


Phantoms in the Stone Ocean

by SparksInTheFuture



Category: Danny Phantom, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: And also because the Kujos swear alot, Clockwork is not putting up with Pucci, Creepy Hospital, Crossover, Even if it wrecks the timeline, I finally got a beta, Jojo spoilers for parts 1-6, Jolyne Cujoh is a little shit, Jolyne Cujoh is tired, Kujo Jotaro is Bad at Feelings, Kujo Jotaro's wife is called Claudia, Mature Rating to Be Safe, Running away from home, See chapter headers for warnings relating to individual chapters, Separation/getting lost, Stone Free is the body horror Stand, Teenage Jolyne Cujoh, This is me giving the Stone Ocean Crew better, i don't know where this came from, s2e2 - Doctor's Disorders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:48:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27771025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparksInTheFuture/pseuds/SparksInTheFuture
Summary: Clockwork normally considers himself an impartial force in the flow of time. There are some events, however, that he cannot ignore. When a ripple in the future begins to spread over the timeline like a disease that will lead to the end of the universe, he finds himself having to take drastic action with the Bloodline that is right in the middle of it. But changing the flow of time is a most dangerous affair, and a 15-year old Jolyne Cujoh finds herself being mixed up in more than just the Stands that her father hid her from.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 24





	1. Changing the Course of History

Long Now was a place that most would consider noisy. With the theme of a clock tower filled with every model of watch or clock imaginable? The ticking sound provided a white noise that its master, Clockwork, the ghost of time appreciated while he worked. At least, under most circumstances. Right now, was…not the case. In fact, for the first time in many eons, complete silence reigned throughout his lair. While the temporal spectre cycled back and forth across his many viewing dials. Trying to locate the source of his newest pains.

It was initially nothing that he wanted to concern himself with, a single chance, one in a trillion that he could see in the many splintering fragments that made up possible futures. An innocent woman imprisoned unfairly, a father sent to his deathbed and a struggle that both sides throw _everything_ into. Yet it would inevitably create the worst result. Where time sped up to the point of becoming incomprehensible, even to him. The universe and its parallel of the Infinite Realms could not take such a wild swing in the speed of light. A complete collapse of all that will ever be known. The big crunch. A resetting of the entire universe. Clockwork could not see beyond the veil of the heat death of the universe. Even he had no idea what would happen come the end of all things. But it was naturally something billions and billions of years away. This one chance had the end occur in just under five years.

It was not the existence of the possible future that concerned Clockwork, no he had seen and carefully guided the timeline around many apocalyptic futures in his time. Fragmentary and minuscule chances he only ever had to nudge to the left or right to avoid. To satisfy that smaller and more private obsession of his that not even the Observants knew about. He wanted to create better futures, not just ensure the continuation of time. Hence why this problem was grating against the very fabric of his core.

It was growing, like a disease across the other timelines. The existence of whatever being had caused this disastrous future was distorting all the timelines around it. And the more of this future that was created, the more it would spread. There was not much time until even the Observants would take notice and likely force him to take more drastic action. Such brutish methods he personally never agreed with. 

“Oh, the woes of the Joestar bloodline.” Clockwork sighed aloud to himself, viewing a figure he had learned to become familiar with over the last decade.  
“Sometimes there is no outrunning the retributions of blood. Dr Jotaro Kujo.” He watched this man since he was a teenager, ending the biggest stain on his family’s legacy. He followed all the Joestars through their lives, as trouble was intrinsically linked with their existence. It was only natural that the events that ended the universe followed his daughter. Jolyne Cujoh. When it came down to the most critical decision in 2011. Clockwork watched through his viewing dials, a man who had already sacrificed everything to keep his daughter safe make exactly one more. The ocean claimed his lifeless body as the sun raced through the sky in a blinding streak of light.

Clockwork was not a cruel ghost. Cold and calculating? Indeed. Has put the needs of the masses above an individual? More times than he dared count. But he would not ask a man to make a decision he couldn’t. The blind instinct to protect and care for will win out over any cold and logical decision, especially under the circumstances the man would find himself in. No, if Clockwork were to fix this growing threat, then he would have to get his hands dirty and change the course of history himself. If he did it exactly right, then the Observants would not be aware he did anything at all.  
“I am overdue for a doctor’s visit.” He mused to himself, taking one of his medallions off the wall and preparing himself for the portal generation.  
“Time, out.” The pulse rippled out from him, as he vanished behind the spinning clock hands. Despite the now-frozen state of time, the clocks in Long Now continued to tick.

* * *

Jotaro Kujo, one of the most powerful Stand Users in existence. Was a tired, tired man. He aspired to keep his life as an agent of the Speedwagon Foundation separate from his home life, but only now was he acknowledging he had never lived a home life. It was all worth it, in his eyes. Because at least Jolyne had gotten to live a semi-normal life, as none of his enemies even knew she and his wife existed.

 _Well…mostly worth it._ He frowned to himself, a pen in his hand as he sat at the desk of some sleazy motel. 4 whole hours away from home where Jolyne was likely asleep (was it 2 am already?), glowering down upon the divorce documents that had been passive-aggressively emailed to him by his…soon to be ex-wife.  
“…the empty bed was finally too much for her.” He decided, putting the pen down and leaning back on his chair, taking off his hat to run a hand through his short black hair. Despite his usual attitude towards most women, he took to Claudia Davidson (now Kujo) because she was one of the few women who didn’t swoon over his presence. It was a sharpness of mind and spirit that convinced him to date and eventually marry her. He remembered the night Jolyne was born so clearly, such a tiny soul. A nearly silent part of him awed he had contributed to her existence. A very deep and powerful protective instinct had surfaced before he knew it. He had to keep her safe, from everything that could potentially hurt her.

He was high on the list. It was why he was so scarce throughout her life. Some part of him hoped that maybe one day, she will understand why he could not be a part of her life. He frequently wished that Star Platinum’s attacks could deal with it. Hating him for the rest of her life was the preferable option-

Jotaro’s body stiffened minutely and it was enough to drag his thoughts out of the past. The world had suddenly fallen completely silent around him like he had stopped time. He was aware, but he couldn't move, so it definitely couldn't be the result of Star Platinum: The World. If it wasn’t for the twitch of his fingers and flicker of life in his eyes, one couldn’t tell he was aware of time being frozen at all.

“Awareness even in stopped time is a rare ability indeed, Dr Kujo.” His first instinct was to call this entity a Stand. It’s not like he had many other points of reference. It had blue skin, most of its body was covered by a purple cloak where the hood was pulled up, leaving only a pair of red eyes (a noticeable scar down one of them) exposed. Instead of legs, a whispy tail flowed down from the waist. The creature glowed faintly, casting odd shadows on the walls that only added to the ethereal nature of the meeting. Oh, and the clocks. There were so many clocks. At least six watches spread over both arms, a stopwatch on the end of the staff it (he?) was carrying. Another watch hanging from the belt around his waist. A clockwork cog acted as a brooch fastening his cloak in place. Even a grandfather clock seemingly built into his stomach.

Great, another time-themed Stand, that appeared to be overriding even Star Platinum.

“Despite what you may believe, Dr Kujo, I am neither a Stand nor a threat.” The entity assured him, gliding silently across the room, and dropping something around his neck. The man wound up stumbling forward a little, finding that somehow, he had already been halfway to getting out his chair.

Star Platinum manifested in a burst almost automatically, the muscular Stand growling at the foreign presence, but did not make itself any more of a threat. As Jotaro was only weary.

“You already know me. But I currently know nothing about who or what you are.” He grunted as the entity nodded sagely. Jotaro raised an eyebrow as his form shifted from a relatively young-looking man to old and decrepit, sporting a long white beard.

“Of course, of course. I am the ghost known as Clockwork, the Master of Time.” The…ghost, introduced himself, making a little flourish with his staff as he did so. The claim only caused Jotaro to raise an eyebrow at the spectre.

“A ghost? You don’t appear like the one I already met.” Suspicion had crept into his tone and Clockwork hummed.

“Reimi Sugimoto, it is unfortunate when a human dies at such a young age. But she did not qualify as a true ghost until she crossed over. Her spirit simply lingered in the place that allowed her to. She has since integrated well into the Infinite Realms where the dead call their home.” Clockwork answered without skipping a beat, and Jotaro frowned at him in response.

“As fascinating as I find this conversation, you’re not here to catch me up on the people who’ve departed.” It was a statement about as blunt as usual. He could have sworn the ghost rolled his eyes, and the lack of pupils and irises did not make it harder to tell.

“Correct. I am here to inform you that your attempts are going to fail. The daughter, Jolyne Cujoh, whom you have kept out of this side of your life for so long?” He gestured to Star Platinum, who narrowed its eyes at him in a glare.  
“It will catch up in 2011 and will result in the end of the universe as we know it.”

Jotaro tensed, narrowing his eyes in a low glare. This thing had somehow decided it could come in here and tell him that every attempt to protect his daughter was all for nothing?  
“Strangely enough, I don’t believe what you’re telling me.”  
  
“I would expect as much, considering how difficult it is for a stranger to gain your trust, Dr Kujo. But I also have no reason to lie. It is my calling to preserve the timeline and I will do it by any means necessary. Whatever entity will be created in the events of 2011 is creating a ripple effect that is growing across other futures. Soon, there will be no other future except for the worst possible outcome.” Clockwork responded, sweeping his staff, and showing just a glimpse of the future that he had seen. The ocean in a chaotic whirlpool, the sun streaking across the sky at an impossible speed.

Jotaro saw multiple bodies floating, decaying rapidly in the sea at that moment, more than just his own. He could barely recognise the corpse of his daughter. As quickly as the vision came, it left, but Jotaro still looked much paler than normal. Almost sick to his stomach. He was a dead man, has been since he stopped his own heart at the age of seventeen.

But he knew when a Stand power had been used on him, Clockwork provided no such feeling. This was no mere Stand effect attempting to sway his mind by showing him an illusion of a future. This was real.

His shoulders started to slacken, and Star Platinum sank back under his skin. The man let out a defeated sigh and nodded.  
“Can I at least know how this happened?”

Clockwork hummed, looking like he was debating, though this was already drastically changing history. If anything, he should know what must be avoided.  
“Your daughter was wrongfully accused of first-degree murder and a hit and run charge. It was her boyfriend that was driving the car at the time, but he found it more appropriate to pin the blame on her and get off freely. She attempted to fight for her innocence, but it was a futile effort, and she was given the maximum sentence of 15 years in Green Dolphin Street prison. Where an old acquaintance of Dio Brando worked. When you arrived there trying to break her out, your memories and Stand were stolen from you. Which gave them access to Dio’s journal. And the inevitable future will come to pass. If this is to be avoided, you must act. Now. Or else it will come down to me forcing you to decide something no father should ever have to. Your daughter, or the future of the universe.”

Jotaro growled, hating that this was how he was being encouraged to interact with his daughter more. Because his attempts didn’t mean shit in the end.  
“…what do I need to do?”  
  


* * *

  
The stranger, Clockwork didn’t make any real suggestions in the end, other than what he believed was necessary and vanished. To which, Jotaro decided to sleep on his decision. It wasn’t like he could do much at 2 in the morning and charged up on a lot of emotions he pushed down. But finally, he did think of a single solution, and perhaps it would finally do some good. But it would require planning, quite a bit of planning in fact. Hence why he was now at a bookshop scrolling through different options for blank books and journals. He had to be prepared on the off chance that he would not be around to educate Jolyne on the way this side of his life worked.

He was almost happy he never destroyed the Stand Arrow that he gained from Morioh. There were a couple of shards that he hid in his study, in his desk. Maybe deep down, he always knew that this day would come. If Jolyne never awoke a Stand naturally (the fever she had back when she was a little girl was something that scared him deeply. Thankfully, she never talked about finding a new invisible friend with some strange and inexplicable power after she recovered), there would at least be a reliable way she could awaken a Stand on purpose. But merely the ability to gain and wield a Stand would not be enough.

She needed information, lists of people she can contact in case of an emergency, explanations for the logistical side of Stands and warning signs to look out for in case she was being hunted. The Journal he was going to write his impromptu guide to owning a Stand and being a member of the Joestar Bloodline had to be nondescript by default. Make sure it was unlikely to be stolen as there was “obviously” nothing of value. Cheap, but well-used and durable. Finally, he managed to pick up a brown journal that was leatherbound with a strap to keep it closed. Thick enough to write down everything. Perfect.

Next, he would probably need to withdraw money from his bank account so she could afford the essentials if she needed to travel. He was a marine biologist with a doctorate, and his more hazardous work with the Speedwagon Foundation was always richly accounted for with plenty of pay. Money had seldom been an issue for him. He would have to figure out how much money to withdraw and hide in a backpack later.

Unfortunately, this was the nature of messing with the stream of time. As it was sheer coincidence that Jotaro was easy to spot in public, with his massive size and unusual hat. Another person had spotted him, almost spat out the drink they were carrying and quickly backed out of the store, just begging the fellow Stand User hadn’t noticed him. His Stand was certainly not combat-oriented after all. Just a good little fly for information gathering. But he walked into THE Jotaro Kujo by complete accident!? This had to be a dream!

The smaller man ducked into a side alley, keeping watch for if the man had left the building.

“Y-Yeah guys I am being serious! Jotaro Kujo! Just milling around a bookstore! What do I do?”

_“You best not be lying, follow him but do not engage. If we can figure out where he lives, then he would have just made our lives so much easier.”_

_The unseen figure, hidden in a safe place put his phone down and interlocked his fingers with a sinister grin spreading over his face._

_“Did you hear that brothers? Our years of searching are over, Lord Dio will be so proud. Organise yourselves. We have a Joestar to collect what is rightfully ours from.”  
  
_

* * *

  
Clockwork, now back in Long Now, watched over the timeline as he always did. The way that it was changing was so rapid and far beyond the scope he had seen before.

“Such is the nature of changing history…hm?” He frowned, focusing in on a specific point in time. It used to be a scene he was well familiar with, a decaying old hospital on the edge of Amity Park, where it would be used as a makeshift "quarantine" area by a pair of ghosts with harmful intent towards the children they would keep. Normally, it would have been a single boy who fought these two on his own. As he had protected his home for many months. The second Halfa that history had ever created. 

But this time it was different, now a girl fought alongside him instead, green and black hair, silvery web designs sewn into her blue shirt and jeans and threads forming a small storm around her. Condensing into fists that wildly lashed out at their unseen opponent.  
“Now this is a surprise. But, one that might just be welcomed…”


	2. Times are Changing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jolyne learns the hard way why Jotaro's absentee role in her life may have been the better option. But her permission for ignorance has also run out, and finds herself becoming involved with her bloodline's legacy whether she wants to or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A.K.A I work damn hard for that Mature rating. Although I don't believe I have gone overboard as of yet.  
> There's a small list of warnings for this chapter but hopefully, they shouldn't be too major.
> 
> \- Mentions of cheating on spouses (do not worry it's not true)  
> \- Absentee parents  
> \- Blood and (minor) injury  
> \- Infection/illness  
> \- Home invasion  
> \- Running away from home/separation/getting lost.
> 
> Sorry Danny Phantom fandom, there's not much of any DP action in this chapter. But the crossover should really pick up from chapter 3 onwards!

Jolyne was sure family dinners with a member who had just come out of prison was less awkward than this. Not that she could blame the hurt glower that her mother was making across the table at a father who had done a disappearing act most of her life. Hell, even she was glaring at him whenever she looked up from her chicken and potatoes. What the _fuck_ possessed her Dad to show up out of the blue like this asking to talk about “something important” after a dinner together? He wasn’t even acting like anything was wrong! Just sitting there going through his food like not a damn thing was out of place.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had wanted to punch someone in the face as hard as right now. Believe her, she had gotten into her fair share of fights that ended with at least one broken nose. Her father, on the other hand, seemed to be ignoring the holes she was trying to burn into his skull.

“Claudia.” He spoke after a long pause.  
“I’ve signed the divorce papers, and already split our assets evenly between us. You don’t need to ask me to pay child support, I’ve already arranged it.”

She watched her mother raise an eyebrow into the cover of her brunette bangs.  
“I honestly thought you’d protest more, Jotaro.”

“Circumstances have changed with my line of work.” The man’s tone had barely changed, nor had his general composure.  
“So it’s probably better if we separated.” There was something unspoken that Jolyne could sense hanging in the air, but what it was she couldn’t tell.  
“I just need to talk to Jolyne in private. Because it will affect her too.”

The statement was so unexpected by the teenager that she nearly choked on her fork, coughing a few times to fix her father with a wide-eyed stare.  
“The _fuck_ do you mean you old bastard!?”

“Jojo! We don’t use that language at the table!” Claudia scolded, but the words fell on deaf ears.

“Yare yare daze, I’m only 36,” Jotaro responded flatly.  
“When I’m in my 40’s you get permission to call me old.”

Jolyne only huffed, deciding tense silence was so much better than her dad attempting to tell dad jokes. It was only then that she realised that he hadn’t even answered the question of how it will affect her.  
“What did you mean, “affect me”?” She tried again, forcibly keeping swear words out of her sentence.

“…it’s not something that’s easily discussed over dinner. Wait until we’re done and I’ll tell you everything in my study.” Jolyne read the tone that he responded with as “we are done talking about this”, and she grumbled in response. Not like she could protest now.

She spent the rest of that meal trying to murder her already cooked chicken.

* * *

The dishes were washed, dried, and stacked away in silence with her mother at her side. At least, Jotaro had taken the emptied plates to the island of their minimalistic kitchen and cleaned the food off them. Disposing of the waste in a special bin they have for compost. It made good fertiliser for the garden or whatever mom said.

“…do I have to?” Jolyne asked, staring through the white plywood of their drawers rather than at it with a cleaned and dried plate in one of her hands.  
“For all I know, he could have nothing to say to me at all.”

“As…distant as your father is, Jojo.” Her mother responded with a small frown, she sounded uncertain. Like she was trying to convince herself as much as she was her daughter.  
“When he speaks like that and asks for things directly, it’s not something to ignore.”

“How’d you even meet him?”

“Not the point, he’s in his study.”

“He said he would be.” Jolyne heard her mom chuckle, and if anything, that was a slightly positive note for the night.

“I can deal with the rest of this, Jojo. Go see your father.” She said it with relatively good spirits, but Jolyne knew an order when she heard one and hesitantly, she stepped away from the kitchen. May as well just rip the bandaid off while it was fresh. Right?

Aside from her muted footsteps on the polished wood floor, and the steady stream of water from the sink in the kitchen, the house was silent. It was a simple and modest building, with only one storey and an attic. Relatively modern, but Jolyne always despaired at the lack of windows. A few of the friends she ever managed to make had entire damn walls made of glass, she thought that was cool. She remembered more than a few occasions where the home just made her feel trapped.

She was in the main hallway now. At the end on the left, that was dad’s study. She was never allowed to go in there.

_“Sharp objects.” Her father grunted at her nine-year-old form as he stepped out from behind it.  
“I don’t want you hurting yourself. So, promise me you won’t go in there.”_

_“OK, daddy.” Her younger and dejected voice echoed back to him._

What the hell kind of marine biologist would need enough sharp objects in his home to worry about his daughter getting hurt on them? Sounds like a bald-faced lie now that she thought back on it. Like how much else could he have been lying about?

He was never home, to the point where him being here was invasive. Even when he was home, he was cold and distant. The number of happy memories she had with him? Jolyne could count them on one finger. Her classmates took notice of that through the years. Kids were the worst.

_“Your daddy doesn’t love you!”_

_“Bet he found a younger and prettier woman and dropped your mom like a hot coal.”_

_“If I was your dad, I’d be embarrassed of you too.”_

Her fist clenched reflexively, the memories of breaking that assholes nose rang loud in her ears, even though it was two years ago now. In her musing of the past, she didn’t even notice when she almost bumped into the door to her Dad’s study.

…ripping a band-aid off? She felt like she was waiting for amputation in the civil war.

Well, she couldn’t put it off any longer. So her hand slowly came up until the wood echoed with a few knocks.

“Jolyne. You can come in.” Her father’s voice came from the other side.

* * *

Jolyne turned the knob, finding it was unlocked. He locked it whenever he was out, even when he was in. The door creaked open…

She was not expecting the scene she was presented with. Compared to the somewhat minimalist style of the rest of her house, her dad’s study was a _clusterfuck._ Files and books littered the place in semi-organised stacks. She had no idea what any of them were, not at a glance. He had multiple computers as well, a landline where post-it-notes were haphazardly stuck around with what she could only presume were phone numbers or codes. A large corkboard took up half of the wall on the right side. Supporting a huge map where papers and photos were stuck to various places. Several of which were even in America. And almost as if to say that yes, he was a marine biologist? A fish tank, hosting several species that swam around completely carefree. Oblivious to the conspiracy theorist den they lived in.

 _What the Hell is my Dad involved in?_ The thought appeared in her brain and refused to go away. This had to be a joke! Her dad wasn’t some kind of detective his degree was marine biology! He wasn’t…he couldn’t be…was this to cover something else up?  
 _He did all this to cover up a…girlfriend?_

Speaking of her father, he was standing there. In all his 6’5* glory. Jesus her dad was a giant. Strangely, his hat was sitting on the desk beside him and his hair looked unkempt. Almost giving him a bedraggled appearance. Something she wasn’t used to seeing on him.

They stood there for a long minute, just staring each other down like they were telepathically trying to decide who should be the first to speak. But eventually, Jotaro broke the silence.

“You dyed your hair.”

In the worst way possible. It was the same flat and _uncaring_ tone she remembered so _fondly_ from him. Her cheeks flushed involuntarily, and her frayed nerves took the statement as an insult or disapproval.

“It’s been like this for three months! Deal with it, I like my hair like this! Why do you even care!? You wanted to pull me aside to berate my choices you old-!“ Jotaro raised his hand in a stop motion, and almost instinctively her protests died on her tongue.

“That was off-topic, sorry. I did ask you to come here for something entirely different.” Jolyne was seething at him, just raise your voice. Do something show _some kind of emotion._ Every word out of his mouth just sounded so practised.  
“There’s a part of my life I have kept hidden from you, for a long time.”

“Yeah, that much is obvious.” She growled at him, starting to see red.  
“I mean it must have been so important if you were running around in Japan while I was _dying of a fever_.” For the first time, she saw her dad flinch. It was this mute, almost imperceptible movement. A slight twitch of the eye and his gaze switching to the floor for a moment.

Jolyne counted it as a savage victory for a 15-year-old who barely knew him.

“It was imperative I was away when that happened. You were vulnerable.”

“Vulnerable my ass!” Jolyne snapped back, barely restraining her voice as she was reaching the limits of her patience.  
“Just tell me her name and get it over with!”

“…what?” His brows furrowed, if Jolyne had been in a better state of mind she probably would have deduced it was genuine confusion. But it was too late to go back now.

“The name of the woman you’ve been _cheating on mom with you slimy bastar-“_ Her accusation was cut off in a sudden yelp when her world was quite literally, turned upside down. She was hanging upside down in the air, her braided green ponytail swinging wildly while she struggled in vain to right herself. When she looked up (down?) at where she could feel her ankle being squeezed, she felt for the first time the icy grip of terror.

She was looking up at a transparent, flickering figure. Holding up her entire body with just a single hand. Its see-through skin was a rich shade of purple with some blues to accent. White gloves covered both muscular hands and only a tunic gave it modesty. Black hair flowed wildly around the creature. It stared straight at her with almost luminous purple eyes in a way that couldn’t possibly be construed as not threatening.

_I’m going to die!_

Then she was put back down again, gently, and released. Her lower half thumped unceremoniously against the floor while the entity sank back into her father.

“W-What the, what the Hell was that thing!?” She shouted the first semi-rational question she could come up with.

“…you can see them?” Jotaro hummed, looking thoughtful.  
“Was it that fever you had before?...either way it will make this easier.”

“How could I not see it that thing was bigger than you!”

“Stands are invisible to anyone who does not possess one themselves.” Jolyne spluttered indignantly in response to her Dad’s explanation.

“S-Stands?”

“I didn’t name them. But the fact that you can see my Stand without owning one yourself? The potential to gain one must be strong.” On top of her direct blood relation to him.  
“This is what I have hidden from you, and your mother.” His expression turned sour.  
“Yare yare, I can understand why you would come to that conclusion, but I’m not your great grandfather. I haven’t cheated on your mother, and I have no intention of starting.”

“…” Jolyne was in shock, with all the new information flooding her brain it was hard to not be. The easier explanation she came to turned out to be false and dad was…what? Superhuman? What the ever-living Hell was going on?

Jotaro sighed, moving down onto one knee and putting a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. She looked…afraid. Of him? Of the life he was about to introduce her to? He couldn’t tell anymore.  
“This is why I stayed out of your life as much as possible. I’m not the only one with this ability, and not everyone who has a Stand uses it for benign reasons. These powers are dangerous, Jolyne. You have the perfect cover to hide from the law, from consequences. They’re virtually untraceable.” His gaze flickered to the corkboard on the wall next to them.  
“Which is why I work for the Speedwagon Foundation. Fighting people whom no one else can.”

Jolyne looked away from him, honestly trying to process all of what she was being told.

“And my line of work breeds enemies Jolyne, which is only made worse by our bloodline. The Joestar Lineage.” She could see a shadow passing over his eyes, the hand on her shoulder flexed a little.  
“People who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt or even kill your mother to get to me. But if they saw that birthmark on your neck…they’d never stop hunting you down.” Something cold seized Jolyne again, just the idea of someone hating her existence enough to want her dead. And for what? Something she had no control over?  
“I kept myself away from you, so you didn’t have to worry, about any of this. Have something close to a normal childhood but…I can’t. I can’t outrun it forever, and it’s catching up to you already.”

Jolyne watched him with wide eyes as he pulled away from her and walked over, fishing something out that was hidden behind the piles of work that he kept in his room. It was a backpack, relatively small, but packed. Had he been expecting this to happen?

“It’s a precaution for now. But just in case, this is packed with everything you need to survive on your own for a while. In case something happens to me. Be very careful about what’s in the left side pocket. If it scratches you it-“

It all happened so fast, one moment everything seemed to be at least semi-normal. The next? There was a large rumble of something outside the house, and threatening baying of what only vaguely sounded like large canines.

_“Jotaro! You’re cornered in there, we hope you know that! You either come out or I send Diamond Dogs in after you!”_

Jolyne stiffened at the sound of a voice that was not there to talk and watched her father growl.  
“Damnit, of course now.” He walked over to the desk like it was the most casual situation in the world and fixed his hat on his head, handing off the backpack to Jolyne.  
“Go out the side door. Make a break for the park and then the woods behind it. Run as far in as you can and hide. If I, and I alone, do not come to find you in four hours, if anyone else finds you at all, keep running. Whatever you do, do not be seen and do not let anyone catch you. You understand?”

Shaking, Jolyne nodded a few times.

“Good, these people _will not hesitate to kill you._ Now _go.”_

She turned around and bolted almost immediately, slinging the pack over her shoulders while she headed for the side door.  
 _“Yare yare daze.”_ She could hear her father distantly while he stepped out of his office.  
 _“Why did it have to be so soon?”_

* * *

Jolyne was panicking while she scampered through the house, finding the side door so she could get it open. At least their fence was small enough for her to jump easily. But the sight of who was storming their home made her freeze up.

At least 3 or four people. All of which gave her the biggest “stranger danger” alarm. All dressed outlandishly, to the point where spotting them in a crowd would be laughably easy. Was that a mohawk? And a floral shirt? What the heck. But her dad was currently towering over every single one of them, looking more enraged than she could ever remember. From this distance, she couldn’t make out what they were saying properly, but they sounded like threats which were all bouncing off her Dad’s demeanour. He didn’t seem the least bit intimidated.

Jolyne’s attention was soon dragged to the appearance of multiple large dogs though. At least…they looked like dogs. Just like with the entity that her dad created, they were transparent. Flickering in and out of her vision. It almost looked like they were made of crystal, or precious stones, with eyes that burned red. They paced as a pack of six or seven (she couldn’t count properly) around one of the intruders, growling and snapping their jaws at her dad.

Her Dads…Stand appeared after a beat and that was the moment all Hell broke loose. The hounds howled and charged, the large purple man responded with a battle cry and his punch crumbled one of the hounds into dust. But several more leapt upon the Stand and Jolyne’s eyes widened at the blood that splashed the concrete from sizable bite wounds that appeared on her father’s arms and torso. His clothing was ripped, and he staggered back. But if anything, this only encouraged him to fight back _harder_.

The teen ran off, unable to look at the battle any longer. She was clumsier than she wanted to be, and one of the crystal hounds flickered its ear to where she had left.

* * *

…where the Hell was he? It’s been ages! It’s not like the sounds of fighting were still going too, they died out well over an hour ago. There was only so long she could squint at warning signs of paper wasp nest sightings in the area before her nerves took her over. Paper Wasps shouldn’t even be a problem at this time of year. Yet here Jolyne was, deep into the wooded wetlands behind her local park. Crouched behind a bush and wondering what the Hell was going on. Despite her best attempts, her brain was simply refusing to wrap itself around whatever insanity her dad had just dragged her into.

“If this was so important why would you keep it from me?” Normal childhood be damned, this was like forgetting to build a fence around your kids play area because there was a sheer drop on the other side!  
“Damnit, old man. You owe me, so much after this.” She grunted to herself, hugging her legs to her chest. She was still quivering. Adrenaline was still wreaking havoc on her bloodstream and she would have passed out if she wasn’t still _pissing herself with fear._ She could deal with bullies and assholes any day of the week, but these assholes had fucking _superpowers_! What was she supposed to do!?

“The police are going to laugh me out of the station if I report this…should I just…keep running?” What kind of solution was that even supposed to be? She was so lost, she hated it!

She was brought out of her musings by the sound of a twig snapping. Her breathing hitched, and she froze, pressing herself further against the leaves of the bush. Yeah, footsteps. More than a few of them, like a pack of wolves…oh no.

Peeking out of the corner, trying to make sure she couldn’t be seen. Her fears were confirmed, it was one of the guys who raided her house before. And now his pack of weird ghost dogs were padding about sniffing at the area. A second person was with him, one that Jolyne didn’t recognise. But if he was with that guy, then there was no way he was a friend.

“Are you completely sure there was a girl running out of the house? I didn’t see shit.”

“My Diamond Dogs won’t pass up anything. It smelled a girl, there was a fuckin’ girl OK? She’s around here somewhere. Just look around alright. The bosses are gonna kill us if we let anything slip now.”

 _Bosses?_ Jolyne echoed with confusion. They were taking orders from someone. But who? Dad didn’t mention anyone to reference as a boss. What did they even want?

The sound of growling and snapping from behind her made the teen stop dead. She didn’t even have to turn back to know one of the weird hounds had spotted her.

“There! Over there!” One of the men shouted. Maybe all that adrenaline was good for something after all. Jolyne turned for deeper into the forest and _ran_.

“You think you can escape Diamond Dogs, you brat!? Sic ‘er!” The baying and echoed howling rang in her ears, as well as the thundering of the whole pack chasing her down.

_Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck **FUCK!**_

The fact that she had been sheltered more than a few feet away would only give her so much of a head start. It had barely even been 50 minutes of mad sprinting through the dark woods blindly before she felt snapping jaws dig into her shoulder and she fell forward with a scream. The weight of the crystal dog on top of her pulling her to the left and she fell heavily onto her side.

Pain exploded in her left thigh as she landed on something heavy. A rock? No, it was sharp, like a point. She didn’t get to dwell on it because the stragglers in the pack were catching up, and this hound was trying to pin her. Threatening more bites if she didn’t comply. She struggled anyway, snarling and pushing back against the crystalline animal.

“Get OFF ME!” She wailed, swinging blindly. She never actually hit the creature. But somehow it was sent flying with a yelp of surprise and pain anyway. The moment the weight was lifted off her Jolyne scrambled to her feet. Her injured leg screamed in protest. No use trying to outrun them now.

“Fuck! That bitch has a Stand!” Why did the man’s voice now sound like he was forcing it through a broken jaw?

The other hounds were getting closer, and the one she just judo threw (somehow??) was getting back up. Her back against the trunk of a tree, she did the only thing she could and start climbing. The cold jaws of a hound only barely missing her ankle.

Now all seven of them were around the base of the trunk, jumping against it to try and reach her and barking up a storm. She was just short of hyperventilating, haphazardly testing for safe branches to get higher up. She tried to ignore the weird buzzing noise in her ears.

“Listen here you little brat.” The man growled. Ah yes, mohawk. So he had this…Stand.  
“You either come down willingly, or I have Diamond Dogs pull you down! Easy or hard, all down to you little missy!” He was taunting her, that made her angry.

What the Hell was that buzzing?! It was damn annoying and…oh. She flattened herself against the trunk, staring at the large nest of wasps buzzing around towards the end of the branch. Testing the branch, it bent easily to her weight. Maybe it was rotten. That was when an idea formed in her brain. Dangerous, she didn’t know if she was allergic to wasp stings after all but…better than going with him.

Taking a deep breath, Jolyne inched out on the branch and looked down at the grown man scowling at her. He didn’t want to climb up after her, she was going to use that. With only a beat of hesitation, she opened her mouth and responded to his threat.  
“I don’t think so! Come up and get me bitch!”

The veins popping out of his head alone made antagonising him worth it alone.  
“Y-You!-DIAMOND DOGS!” The Stand howled and jumped, trying to snap at her legs and pull her down. Jolyne pulled back against the trunk hastily and its jaws snapped around the vulnerable branch instead, pulling it…and the nest to the ground.

It exploded with spectacular fashion, even in the darkness, and the buzzing sound became overpowering as thousands of angry, angry wasps flew out in their swarm, seeking revenge on the Stand User who had destroyed their home.

The night was filled with terrified screaming, as the stranger flailed madly to keep the angry wasps away from him. They swarmed the guy with no mercy, and several of his wolf pack vanished from the distraction.

Jolyne leapt from the tree where she had been and rolled to a hint, already experiencing multiple stings of her own from straggling wasps. Her leg felt like it was on fire, but she kept moving. Running blindly even as the general noises from her mayhem got fainter and fainter. It was only when the dirt and leaf litter on her feet started to gain gravel…possibly hours later, as the sun was beginning to break the horizon did, she find a car park. A roadside gas station? How long had she been moving?

She was too exhausted to try and guess, but fortune was finally, finally giving her a good break today. A truck with a cover on its back. The owner was probably still inside the station or somewhere else. No idea where it was going, but there was no way she could go home. With or without people trying to find her.

She pushed herself towards the truck, trying to remain unseen, and slid inside amongst the dirty crates and trade boxes. A space just big enough for her to fit into and finally, passed out.

* * *

She had no idea how much time had passed since she had fallen unconscious. But it was hot in the back of the truck she had stowed away in. Her leg was still throbbing with ungodly amounts of pain. And there was a steady thrum underneath her. The truck was moving. At least, she was left with just enough room to sit up, but the dim world swayed dizzily as she did so, and her stomach lurched as a great middle finger to her already horrible condition.

She hadn’t eaten anything at all since dinner time. Considering her daring escape she should be starving. But the thought of eating anything made her want to hurl. That was when she remembered the fact she had fallen on something when she was running. Digging around in her pack, she raised an eyebrow when she felt and pulled out a flashlight.

“Shit, how prepared were you?” She asked herself quietly, flicking the torch on and focusing the beam on where she felt most of the pain.

Forget feeling sick, she was going to be sick holy shit something was _sticking out her thigh._ Panic set in, and she hurried to pull it out, even knowing it was generally a bad idea. She bit down a yelp as it slid out, though not without slicing a little more of her flesh on the way out. She was bleeding from there profusely now.

“Wait wait fuck what if it's infected?” What was she even stabbed with? It didn’t feel like a rock it was…smooth. Like metal? Rubbing the blood off the item, it was indeed metallic, like a fragment of a blade or point. What the Hell?

 _“Be very careful about what’s in the left side pocket.“_ The memory of what her father said echoed in her mind and slowly, she reached for the left side pocket where this item was supposedly kept.

…

…

…

…nothing was in there. But it was the perfect size for what was previously in her thigh.

“I must have fallen on it while I was running…but why was I supposed to be careful about it?” She wondered to herself, feeling another wave of nausea. A flash of heat moved through and settled in. Feverish. She was getting feverish damnit.

“Getting sick…at a time like this…great work…fuckin’ Cujoh.”

* * *

If you asked Jolyne if she remembered the next four days, she would honestly tell you that no. She had no clue what happened. Between hastily bandaging her wound repeatedly, trying to manage the increasingly bad fever and stowing away in secret on as many different vehicles as she could manage. Time passed in a complete blur. The only thing she knew for certain in that time was that there was no way in Hell she could be in Florida anymore. The weather got colder and less humid. So, she could only presume she had been travelling north. It was making her illness worse.

The last day or so of her fugitive life she was drifting in and out of consciousness. Hidden away on the back of a pickup and hugging her backpack against her chest like it was a lifeline. She could feel herself fading fast.

_All of that and an infected stab wound is how I die. It’s pathetic._

She was starting to lean out of the side of the pickup as a sign drifted by. Forcing herself to read it through her hazy state of mind.

 **Amity Park.** It read in big, bold, red letters. While green text swirled up and down next to it in a cheerful manner…were those scorch marks at the edges of the sign?  
 **A nice place to live!**

The black spots in her eyes danced like butterflies as her vision went dark. The fuzzy image of a blue arm and something pulled her back into the pickup before she could fall out of it. It was weird, the most precarious position of her entire life and she felt…

... _safe._


	3. Disobeying the Doctor's Orders - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jolyne finally wakes up to find herself in Amity Park, and it takes her no time at all to get tangled up in the town's ghost problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, the crossover is actually a crossover now. The only warning I really need to provide is mild body horror. Because Jolyne's Stand cannot exist without being a prime source of it. A good chunk of Danny's part in the chapter is lifted directly from the episode this takes place in, so I apologise for that. Otherwise, enjoy the story. 
> 
> For those who will not be aware, this is set during the Danny Phantom season 2 episode "Doctors Disorders" (episode 2).

The world came back into focus slowly. There were a few blissful moments where the teen just existed without any worries. Where almost the last week was just one very vivid and scary nightmare. Any second, she was going to wake up in her bed like absolutely nothing happened, and she can go about a perfectly normal day.

Her sense of touch rudely informed her of reality. Because her still wounded thigh felt like it was on _fire_. With the confirmation she had still stabbed herself, came everything else in vivid detail and blindly, Jolyne reached up to try and sit up. She recognised the bed was something closer to a simple cot you lie patients on, but the area didn’t look like a hospital. More like a clinic.

The world began to spin dizzily again, Jolyne letting out an involuntary whine at the sensation. The sound of footsteps rang in her ears and the next thing she knew there was a hand pushing her back down.

“Sorry kid, not yet. Sounds like you need another dose of painkillers. Just stay here.” A feminine, older voice assured and hurried away. Jolyne just lay there, waiting for the rest of her senses to figure stuff out. After blinking a few times, she found that yeah, she was in a clinic like she first assumed. It seemed small, but well looked after and thoroughly sterile. She had a sheet over her body that she decided to pull back.

She wasn’t in the orange tank top and khaki pants like normal. Instead, a simple clean T-shirt and shorts of varying blue tones. She could see the neat bandaging on her left thigh that indicated someone had bandaged her wound for her. When she reached up at the stinging sensation on her shoulder, she frowned. There were bandages there too.

Did she forget about being attacked by those rock…dog…things when she was running back in Florida? What did he call them…Diamond Dogs? Weird name.

“Looks like you’re up anyway.” The voice made her jump, and Jolyne snapped her view towards the new person. The person stepped back, surprised a little.  
“Easy easy, I don’t bite.” She tried her best to soothe, carrying a tray with water and a few pills on it.

Now that she could get a good look at the woman, Jolyne couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at her. She was kind of short, and portly in frame as well. With soft brown shoulder-length hair flowing freely. Caucasian, a couple of laugh lines around her mouth and misty Gray-blue eyes. Overall, Jolyne couldn’t have it in her to register the woman as a threat. Though she kept a careful eye on her until she set the tray at the bedside table and turned to face Jolyne with a soft look. Like she was used to dealing with teens in her situation.

“Have to say, you gave a friend of mine a pretty big scare. Was coming through Amity Park to deliver some supplies when there’s a girl passed out in the back of his truck, looking like she tried to get in a knife fight with a wolf pack.”

Jolyne carefully decided to not react to that, considering she…kind of did.

“That and the fact you look like you haven’t seen a shower in days and were travelling with a temperature of 102?” The woman paused for a bit, before shaking her head with a sigh.  
“Name’s Barbara. Run a clinic as a charity service. Mostly for people who can’t afford hospitals. The homeless, runaways, low-income folk. You know.”

Jolyne looked her up and down, nodding slowly as she explained herself.  
“R-Right. Then you’re the one who helped bandage me up huh?”

Barbara nodded and Jolyne’s only response was to look away from her. Somewhat embarrassed she needed this much help from someone. What if she got them hurt because she helped her? For all she knew, those people who had attacked in Florida were still after her. If they managed to find her dad of all people, then she couldn’t have shaken them, forever right?

…she was starting to see the logic behind why Dad never interacted with her as a kid. Damn it all.

“You’re going to give me a name? I’ll need it for paperwork.” There was a moment where Jolyne panicked, debating on whether it was a good idea to give Barbara her real name. Her caution outweighed her candour.

“I-Irene. My name is Irene.” She settled on a name quickly, similar sounding to her own yet different enough that no one would probably think twice about the similarity. Barbara raised an eyebrow at her.

“No surname?”

“N-No ma’am…”

Barbara sighed and shook her head.  
“Just call me Barbara. Formalities ain’t my thing. Honestly, what is our world coming to? Kids getting kicked out of their own homes. Guessing from the accent you’ve come far up north. I’ll phone in with the local shelter and see if they have any beds available OK? But if you’re going out, I’d wait until morning. Ghost attacks are more frequent at night.”

Jolyne blinked at her.  
 _“Ghost attacks?”_ She couldn’t quite keep the incredulous “sounds like a prank” tone out of her voice. Barbara chuckled at her apparent ignorance.

“Don’t you know where you are kid? Amity Park, Illinois. The most haunted town in America. You’ll know a ghost when you see one.” The older woman leaned back against the wall and sighed.  
“In my humble opinion, the town would be a lot more dangerous without that ghost kid protecting us. Lotta people walking around claiming he’s a monster, but outside of a few incidents he never really means harm…ah. I lost you.” Barbara sighed.  
“Alright, I’ll go make those calls now. Feel free to make yourself comfortable alright?” And just like that, Jolyne was left alone with her thoughts again.

She made it up as far as Illinois. She was basically on the other end of the country in only a few days. Maybe she really could take a small break here, or at least gather herself so she could figure out just what the Hell she was supposed to do now. Looking down at the bedside table where the painkillers and water lay untouched, there was her backpack there. It didn’t look like it had been opened while she was unconscious too, so that was a plus. Maybe she could find a place to start rummaging through it for real and see what dad had stashed away for her.

Though she would have to sort herself out in a place where Barbara or other people weren’t likely to see.

_“Hello? Amity Shelter? Yes, I’m calling you about a patient that was admitted into my clinic several hours ago- “_

Jolyne perked up, blinking rapidly at the door. She…she shouldn’t be able to hear something from that distance, right? The door should be muffling the conversation too much. But she could hear it like she was standing right next to Barbara.  
“The Hell? My hearing can’t be this good.”

_“She says her name is Irene, I think she might have run away from home. Carl, you know the delivery driver. Found her in the back of his pickup with a high fever and a few wounds-”_

That was when she noticed something, after a moment of staring. It was so easy to overlook considering it was white against creamy white manilla flooring. Was that…string?

 _“-Yes, I’ll ask some questions about her situation and contact the police if it's necessary. Thank you.”_ Her eyes traced the line slowly, afraid of the increasingly clear answer to what was happening considering it was coming right back to her bed.

Up the bedpost.

And underneath the bandaging that protected the stab wound on her thigh.

Almost like a creature that had noticed a predator stare at them, the thread quickly pulled itself back, retreating entirely underneath the bandage and going still.

Half of Jolyne wanted to pretend she never saw anything. But the other half argued she needed to see what was happening to the wound site now that there was something awfully long, worm-like, and alive there. She felt genuine fear and a little bit of light-headedness at the concept of finding a nesting colony of like…worms or some shit living in her stab wound. She pushed through it stubbornly in favour of gently finding the edge and undoing her bandages.

The more she did so, the more she noticed the small lines accenting up from the rest of her skin, like veins arranged in all the wrong positions and pushing up. Occasionally she watched a line twitch and move. An itch was growing on the bare skin underneath and it was becoming hard to resist stopping to scratch. Until the last layer finally came away with a few fresh patches of blood.

How she had not fainted in response to the sight before her was nothing short of a miracle. Because there were probably grown men who would have.

Her former wound looked like an infestation site where an untold number of these long worm-things were wiggling about. Dipping into and out of her skin in a way where Jolyne experienced no pain whatsoever aside from a minor itch. She was so sure she had turned a similar shade of white to the bedsheets.

 _Oh FUCK are those worms!?_ She asked herself, quivering slightly with the idea of being infested like this. God she was going to be _sick!_  
 _Where does one end and the next begin!?_

Maybe out of sheer desperation to understand what was happening and call for Barbara to ask what kind of medicines she’d be needing to deal with this, she reached down and grabbed onto the end of one with a certain zeal and _pulled._

She almost yelped when she felt her skin pull in accordance like she was pulling closed a stitch, the individual threads binding closer together. The ‘worm’ she had grabbed squirmed a little in her grip but otherwise came away easily. The sheer length of it disturbed her. Like this was just one big and long one instead of multiple.

…was more of her skin and flesh turning into this? What the actual Hell was happening?

The worm was surprisingly thin, for a living creature anyway. She was surprised to not feel anything like skin or slime from this thing instead it was…silky?

No, not silky. Silk. She remembered the texture of silk easily. As she rubbed the mystery item between her fingers, she realised that this wasn’t a worm at all. This was a thread of silk string.

“String? What the Hell, I’m creating string?” She found that it carried the scent of soap too, the brands she often used too. It was just…creepy.

When she let go of the string too, it didn’t flop down lifelessly. It coiled absently in the air, expanding, and contracting like a muscle that she was flexing. Frowning, she thought.  
 _Move left._

She watched the string drift to the left a little.  
 _Move right._

The string swayed right.

“Am I…controlling it?”

As if to show her how wrong she was, the strings in her thigh all surged up at once. She let out a little yelp as the strings began to clump together, turning an interesting shade of blue before her eyes.

She was staring at a green, pupil-less eye, staring right back at her.

 _“Irene?”_ Barbara’s voice on the other side of the door startled Jolyne even more and just like that, the creature fled back into the skin on her thigh.  
“Are you alright in there?” She opened the door, and Jolyne tensed, expecting a scream and a lot of questions about the many strings stitching the wound on her thigh closed.

…

“You took your bandage off? Wait.” Barbara moved towards her, and Jolyne was starting to experience a strong fight or flight instinct.  
“You’re healing faster than I expected.”

…what?

Barbara rubbed her thumb over the patch where the string-creature had made itself at home. But did not attempt asking about it.  
“A little rough, but its healed over completely.”

 _What?  
_ Jolyne asked herself again, unable to believe what she was hearing.  
 _Can Barbara…not see it?_

“R-Right the shelter. They have a bed for you. But I wouldn’t recommend going now. You’ll be out during the night. So, if you need to, you can sleep here tonight. I’m trusting you with this OK. You seem like a good kid.” Still unable to believe any of what was happening to her, Jolyne just nodded dumbly.  
“Good. I’ll check up on you before I close for the night.”

When she was left alone again. Jolyne didn’t hesitate to make herself scarce. Changing into the clothes her dad packed (simple boots, jeans and a blue t-shirt with silver spiderweb designs, a grey hoodie to keep herself warm) and forcing the window open with her new, bizarre power.

* * *

“Seriously, just what the Hell are you supposed to be?” She asked the thin air around her while she walked down the street, knowing that this weird thing now living…on her? Inside her? Would somehow be able to hear and respond. It did when she was in the clinic earlier.  
“Evil spirit or something? Because I’m not interested in whatever demon contract you got.”

She wasn’t _surprised_ per se when the skin of her arm began to unravel under the hoodie (she could _feel it_ and it was _uncomfortable)_ and snake out of the end next to her wrist like an eel. Creeped out was a much more accurate statement.

 **You.** The string formed a word she could read. Blinking, she looked around. But none of the few people around her seemed to be giving her a second glance.

“Uh, I don’t think I turn myself into silk. Are you looking for a spider?”

The string vibrated a little before more of it joined to create more cursive words.  
 **Your Fighting Spirit. Protect you.**

“…my ‘fighting spirit’?” This was starting to sound like a bad anime. Or corny superhero show.  
“Is that why you’re invisible to everyone but me?”

**Only seen if same power.**

“Same power…” She echoed, finding her thoughts drifting back to the events of that night…with her father and those people who attacked them.

**They have same power.**

“Great, you can read my mind.”

**I am you.**

“And do “I” have a name?”

**No. No name. Yet.**

“…damn I have to name you?” Jolyne groaned, knowing she probably couldn’t just call it “String Monster”. That was just monumentally stupid. The other guy called his…power, Diamond Dogs though.

There was a noise that quickly distracted her from her would-be goal. A yell, echoing through the purple (seriously why is the sky purple here?) night sky. Followed quickly by a tree rustling violently with the force of someone crashing into it. Jolyne perked up with alarm and managed to take in the sight of a large school building, that’s what she assumed it was anyway.

And a glowing child hanging upside down from the branches of a nearby tree leaves clinging to his snowy white hair and toxic green eyes widening. Though not at Jolyne. Another girl was there, who also seemed to take no notice of the Florida-native.

Wait, was that glowing green sludge coating his body like a weird net?

_“Paulina!”_

The other girl let out a manic grin, and Jolyne took the distraction as a chance to duck behind the trunk of a different tree while she was still unnoticed.

_“You should run.”_

There was a weird echo to his voice that Jolyne hadn’t noticed before, the strings that had previously been communicating with her power were now tightening protectively around her wrist like it could sense danger. The echo made her head hurt a little too, setting all her nerves on edge.

An instinct obviously not shared by the other dark-haired girl as she happily bounded towards the luminous teenager.

 _“No, not toward me. Away! Run!”_ He clarified in a shout, holding out both of his hands in what Jolyne assumed was a stop motion. She blinked in disbelief when the teenager instead fired beams of green energy from his hands that the other girl (Paulina, probably) was incredibly lucky to duck under in time. Out of curiosity, Jolyne followed the beam of energy to wherever the intended target was.

Wow, that was a big mosquito.

_Wow, that was a really big, glowing, visibly angry mosquito._

Which luckily, the beam of green energy the kid fired out of his hands struck dead centre and sent the monster flying back. Wisely, the other girl bolted once she saw the danger. Jolyne shrank further behind the trunk but continued to watch what was happening.

The kid’s glow turned brighter until he managed to vaporise the gunk that was immobilising him and he flew out of the way of a blast of slime from the end of the mosquito beast’s proboscis. His legs fusing into a long, misty tail while he did so. The giant mosquito gave chase, the smaller boy zigzagging around in the dark sky until he stopped in front of a telephone line.

_He’s going to electrocute it._

_“Bug.”_ He said, waiting until the very last moment to pull up and out of the way as the mosquito crashed headfirst into the powerlines. Even though it had been attacking the boy up until this point, Jolyne couldn’t help but wince a little. That had to hurt.  
 _“Zapper!”_

She was guessing the fact the giant mosquito exploded into thousands of regular-sized mosquitos was probably not an expected reaction. The boy looked visibly taken aback as the scattered insects gathered into a large cloud and flew en masse into the building behind them all.

Now he looked straight up unimpressed.  
 _“Well, one down. A billion to go.”_ He groaned, shaking his head. Before he flew off, apparently remembering something and leaving Jolyne all alone, still reeling from everything she just witnessed.

“…right. That just happened.” She muttered, trying to process what she just saw. Were those…ghosts?

 **Danger.** Her strings weaved the word in front of her eyes.  
 **Danger!** It accented a moment later with an exclamation point.

“What do you mean?”

 **Bug!** Jolyne’s eyes widened, finally catching notice of a single point of glowing light that was approaching her hiding spot. One of those ghost(?) insects was flying towards her, a straggler in the group that had seen the first victim it could attack. Jolyne moved back with a small yelp, but the insect landed on her wrist, eyeing her skin hungrily.

It all happened faster than even Jolyne could process. One second it looked ready to bite her, and the next a blur of blue and grey colour had jumped out from her, and the crunching of oak caused the tree behind her to splinter and crack severely. Like a small but high-speed impact had almost punched a hole through it. Jolyne was left staring in horrified awe, at a blue and grey fist and arm that had jumped out of her own. Underneath the blue shell was an entire network of densely packed strings. Her body was enveloped in a cyan-coloured aura as well. But judging by the grass underneath her. It wasn’t giving off any light.

The arm slowly came away from where it impacted the tree, showing the splattered remains of the bug. A few of the legs twitched before it fell to the ground and dissolved entirely. The strings stopped creating anything past the shoulder, just several strings that attached to her own shoulder. The entity was disgusted by the green slime clinging to its fingers and shook it off, before unravelling itself back into her arm.

“…thanks.” She admitted after a beat.  
 _Looks like my Spirit can protect me from those things but…  
_ A closer look at the building revealed that it was in fact, a high school. “Casper High” the lettering on the front read.  
 _Most of the kids in that place won’t have any._

“…yare yare dawa.” She grunted, surprised to hear herself quoting her father (at least somewhat) in this situation before looking at the few strings dancing around her free arm.  
“How do you feel about breaking and entering?”

* * *

Danny was about as exhausted as normal coming to Casper High the next day. Fighting a giant ghost bug just to have it explode on him was bad enough, but he was already out hours after his curfew, so he had no choice but to return home before his parents found out. He assumed that he would have just lost the ghost bugs in the school anyway. Maybe they moved back to the Ghost Zone by themselves too. The halls were about the same, students walking by and hardly giving him a second glance.

Though as he was walking through to his first class, a smell wafted across his nose that caused it to wrinkle with displeasure. Tucker was spraying himself with…something. He didn’t know what it was, but he was not going to bet that it was anything that could be bought on the shelves.  
“Phew, what is that smell?” The raven-haired teen asked, raising an arm to try and wave some of the stench away.

“This? It’s my new all over body spray!” Tucker responded eagerly, holding up a home-made can with writing he probably did himself on the front like a label.  
“I made it myself! I call it “Foley, by Tucker Foley.” He explained, going to apply even more to himself.  
“It combines with your natural odour to create a sweet, manly scent. That smells different to everyone who sniffs it!”

“Tuck, you smell like sweat and cookies.” Danny responded in a deadpan.

“By choice! The ladies will be swarming all over me.”

Danny opened his mouth to respond, but a small puff of blue mist escaped him instead. Scanning for the ghostly culprit turned up nothing, but he tensed anyway. It’s not like he’s never been lead on a wild goose chase before. The small swarm of ghost bugs flew by him unnoticed.

At the same time, Paulina was officially making her presence known, with half of the boys in the school all calling after her. She ignored them with a dreamy expression on her face.  
“So many boys.” She hummed, opening her locker to show her Ghost Kid shrine.  
“But only one you.” That was when something bit her, an unseen ghost bug sinking into her skin.  
“Ow! Hey you blemished my flawless skin!” She frowned, rubbing the spot where she had been bitten as she walked by the nurse’s office.

When Sam, Danny and Tucker passed by, Tucker froze up. Staring wide-eyed at the nurse’s office and droning.

“Tucker?” Danny asked, moving over to his friend and waving a hand in front of his face. Tucker gave no response.  
“Hello? What’s gotten into him?”

“This happens every time he gets near the nurse’s office,” Sam responded, glancing up at the sign.

“Nu-nu-nu-nurse!?” Tucker panicked, sweating profusely.

„This is a bad one, in a case like this, its best not to let him see,” Sam responded, getting a paper bag over his head.  
“Come on Tuck, find a happy place.”

“R-Right right! I’m not passing a nurse’s office I’m passing a-a, modelling agency!” The moment they were past the nurse’s office Tucker pulled the bag off his head and breathed a sigh of relief.  
“Thanks, Sam.”

“You’re afraid of the nurse’s office?” Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes! Nurses offices, doctors’ offices, hospitals! Any place with sharp, pointy-sticky things and the smell of sick people.” Tucker pulled a face as he mentioned sick people. Sam, behind him, sniffed at the air and did her own disgusted expression.

“Urgh, speaking of sick smells, what is that? Gym socks and snickerdoodles?”

“Foley. By Tucker Foley.” Danny and Tucker chorused in sync, though Danny with a much flatter tone.

“It’s Tucker’s cologne-“ He paused as another puff of blue mist escaped his mouth and the three of them caught sight of Paulina. Who was…more radiant than usual, to say the least? She was even leaning forward and holding her midsection like she felt ill.

“Uh…is Paulina glowing?” Danny asked, staring.

“I know she’s supposed to have “flawless skin” but this is ridiculous.” Sam agreed.

“Ungh, I feel terrible…and disfigured! Stupid bug bite!” Paulina’s voice drifted down the hall.

“Bug bite?” Danny echoed, only then catching notice of one of the mosquito ghosts flying by, gaping at it until it flew over to and bit Jazz on the back of the head, causing his older sister to yelp, drop her books and smack the offended area.

Kwan and Star were both laughing until the two of them were also bitten and infected. And from there it just progressed. Until every student in the hallway was being swarmed by clouds of spectral insects.

“Oh no. Cover me, guys.” Danny told his two friends behind him. Kicking into his “hero mode” as Sam liked to call it.  
“I’m going ghost!” Danny then ran into an unoccupied room, with Tucker and Sam guarding the door to make sure no one would walk in on him. He transformed into his ghost alter-ego in a flash of light, and then started flying around the whole school with his Thermos, sucking up any insects he found. He was standing next to Sam and Tucker again, turning back to his human self before he knew it.

“Well, that, is all of them.” He affirmed, holding up the Thermos…until one more flew by and phased into Sam’s shoulder. Causing her to hiss and slap where she had been “bitten”.  
“Except one.”

Dash then went running by screaming, followed by an entire cloud of ghost bugs.  
“Or more.” Before he ran after the blonde bully, watching as somehow Dash phased straight through the door to the boys’ bathroom. Which Danny opened after him.  
“Hey Dash? Not that I care but, are you OK?” He asked, moving into the bathroom to where one of the stalls were closed and locked.

“I don’t feel so good.” He heard Dash moan from the other side of the door.

“Yeah, this always happens on Goulash Day.” Danny quipped. Trying to lighten the atmosphere a little. He barely had the time to dodge out the way of two ecto-beams burning a hole through the stall. He fell to the floor with a grunt.  
“Although I’ve never seen goulash to that.”

The door exploded completely, and a glowing green Dash with red eyes and pointed ears stormed into view through the smoke.  
“Get away!” He snarled in a much deeper and more gravelly voice. The next thing Danny knew he was being grabbed and thrown into an open toilet stall. Instinctively, he went Ghost again and flew up invisibly and intangibly through the roof, circling around to come down and tackle Dash from behind. The bully’s face met concrete, and Danny was already pulling him up by the front of his shirt with a fist drawn back before he could retaliate.

“Wish I could say I didn’t want to do this, but!” But then Dash transformed back to normal, and fell into the ghost teens arms, groaning in pain.  
“Augh, I’m just one cheap shot away from a Semester full of payback.” Danny grunted to himself, carrying the ill jock out of the bathroom, likely to where all the other sick students were.

* * *

It was hours later, when the parents arrived, all gathered out in front of the gym doors where the mathematics teacher, Mr Falluca was standing in front, barring them from entering.

“Why can’t we see our children Mr Falluca? This is outrageous! They’re sick! They need us!” Maddie Fenton was the one who was voicing most of the parents' concerns, directly arguing with the poor math teacher.

“Now I understand your concern folks, but I have been instructed not to disseminate any information, at this time.” Mr Falluca responded, holding up his hands in what was supposed to be a placating gesture. This predictably had no effect.

“But you’re a teacher, it's your JOB to disseminate information!” Maddie shouted in response. All while Jack was crying at her side.

“Poor Jazz! She’s always been my favourite!” The man sobbed, blowing hard into a tissue and consequently, getting it covered. Before he handed it off to his son, standing right next to him, the whole time, without a second thought.  
“Here you go Danny! Don’t lose this, it was your grandfathers!”

Danny took the item with visible hesitation, cringing in disgust at the fact it was somehow dripping.  
“Eugh.”

“Hey Danny, check this out!” He was almost thankful that Tucker provided him with a distraction.

“What’s up?”

“Got another one.” Tucker opened his palm to reveal one of the glowing bugs just sitting absentmindedly on his palm. Danny jumped in response.

“Tucker! Get rid of that thing!”

“No no look!” Tucker protested, pointing at the insect.  
“It won’t bite me or phase into my skin or anything!”

“That’s weird. I figured my ghost powers were protecting me. What’s protecting you?”

The ghost bug decided to fly off and ignore Tucker all together. They both managed to guess the cause in an instant.

“Foley, by Tucker Foley!” They both said in unison, grinning.

“Wow, it’s not just repelling. It’s a repellent!”

The doors then swung open to where all the sick students were being kept. The most, creepy, pale and bald man wearing a surgeon’s outfit walked through. His skin was almost grey, and his eyes weren’t visible underneath the red-tinted goggles he wore.

“Hello people, I’m Doctor Bert Rand.” He introduced himself, not even waving in his greeting.

“Are you from the government's disease control centre?” Maddie asked, glowering at him.

“Sure, let’s go with that!”

He then held out his arms as he started to explain the situation to the adults.  
“I can assure you that your children are in good hands and will be transferred to the creepy abandoned hospital on the edge of town!”

“Under quarantine?” Maddie spoke up again, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, let’s go with that too!”

“Oh yeah? And just why should we trust you?” Jack asked, leaning forward into the Doctors space like he was trying to be intimidating.

“Because I’m with the government and I can audit your taxes if you don’t.” The doctor responded without skipping a beat.

“We trust you.” Jack responded, quickly backing away again.

“Well, I don’t trust him.” Danny decided, the itch of his ghost core starting to grow. This man was a stranger, he didn’t know him. There was no way he could trust him with _his_ people.  
“Sam and Jazz are in that hospital; we’ve got to find out what’s going on.”

“Have a good time!” Tucker said, quickly turning around to walk away.

“Tucker, I said “we”.” Danny clarified, his annoyance starting to grow.

“You also said “hospital”.”

“Pfft, I go invisible, I go ghost. I’ll be in and out in no time. Just watch!”

A loud _BANG_ disrupted the conversation and frightened everyone in the hall, even the doctor, who jumped a little in response. Before the sounds of scampering over in the ceiling.

“What was that!?” Tucker asked, quickly hiding behind Danny.  
“Is there something in the ceiling?”

“GHOST!” Jack roared, pulling out one of the Fentons’ anti-ghost weaponry, much to the dismay and protests of Mr Falluca.

“Mr Fenton how many times do we have to tell you not to bring those to Casper High unless it’s a ghost emergency!”

Something in the gym broke, and multiple kids could be heard yelling in fear or flat out screaming.

“Op! Gotta get back to the kids!” Dr Bert Rand quickly bolted back inside, locking the gym door behind him as he did so.

“Tucker.”

“Oh, come on!”

Danny dragged him away from the panicking adults shouting at one another and hid in an empty room.  
“Going ghost!” The rings of light travelled up and down his body, turning Danny Fenton into Danny Phantom for the third time that day. Phasing into the ceiling was pretty easy, heck. He regularly stashed ghost hunting equipment and emergency medical kits up here in places where the repairmen weren’t likely to look. But there was evidence of someone, or…something being up here and recently too.

Namely, one of the support beams that held up the second story was now caved in sideways. Barely holding itself together by a few splinters. The cracks in the wood and metal ran up and down. Whatever had hit it, it had a lot of force. Way more than a human could manage.  
“Wait…is that?” He floated closer to look. Among the wreck of the beam was a small splatter of ectoplasm. The remains of a ghost bug were smeared on a spot.  
“It attacked one of the ghost bugs? But why?”

That was when he noticed the hole in the ceiling, over the gym. Remains of plaster and wood were on the bottom, indicating that something had fallen through. When he peeked down, there was no indication of ghost danger. Just a girl being…helped off the ground. She was squirming pretty hard, however.

“Oh, you poor thing!” Dr Bert Rands voice floated up and Danny instinctively backed into the shadows again despite being invisible.  
“Hm…I don’t remember you being among the population of infected teens before. But it's good that you came right to us!” Two large “people” in hazmat suits (ghosts. Danny could tell they were ghosts) pulled her to her feet as she trashed even harder.  
“We’ll make sure you get all better!”

“The Hell!? I’m not sick fuck off!” The teen shouted; a voice Danny wasn’t familiar with either. She had an easily recognisable face too, but once again Danny couldn’t remember seeing her anywhere.

Like seriously, there weren’t a lot of humans who walked around with green hair in Amity Park. For a moment, he considered changing back into Fenton and “conveniently” falling from the ceiling as well but…no. That was a dumb idea, even by his standards. One kid in the ceiling was suspicious, but two?

The mystery girl eventually stopped squirming, hissing, and pulling one of her legs closer to herself. He could see blood beginning to spot through the calf section of her jeans.

That was when something else caught his eye, wedged in the edge of where the hole was. For a moment, he fought to free it from the plaster. Until he could hold it in front of him to scrutinise.  
“String?”

String that was bleeding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooooh, Danny can see the strings from the as of yet unnamed Stone Free! I'll try to post part 2 as soon as possible. There wound up being a lot more words than I originally anticipated.


	4. Disobeying the Doctor's Orders - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Switching perspectives to see why Jolyne was in the ceiling, and discovering some of the more sinister intent behind the ghost virus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> G o d I still need to put a part 3 into this. I write too much. Same as before, will try to post the next chapter soon. 
> 
> And just to be safe, I am going to be putting up a warning for general medical malpractice. Just to be safe. Other than that, enjoy the chapter!

As it turns out, high school was many times easier to break into than break out of. Jolyne was sure that her new mystery helper was half the reason why though. As it turns out, a whole lot more than just a single limb on her body could be transformed into string at any one time. In fact, she wasn’t completely sure…but her current estimate was that about 60% of her body could be turned at any one time. The only real exception appeared to be her heart. If she tried to unravel close, her chest would just start burning after a few seconds. In other words? Keep that area protected.

“Urgh, it’s so dusty in here.” She muttered to herself, the entire ceiling was covered in a thin layer of grime and dirt, which made navigating it that much less hygienic. If she got to meet a shower in the next 24 hours no amount of hot water and excessive scrubbing will ever wash off the feeling this place was giving her.

The seemingly maintained weapons and medical kits hid in the ceiling probably did not help the atmosphere at all. It was like someone in the school was preparing for war.

Though aside from the creepy, dusty internal workings of the building she was hidden in, nothing happened for a good portion of the day. She had to come here exceedingly early on to make sure she could get in undetected. But that meant a lot of sitting around waiting for something to happen.

She was just about ready to give up and declare her day wasted when she heard screaming, which was only getting louder as more voices joined in until it was pandemonium. What the Hell?!

“Shit! I must have missed it!” The only reason no ghost bugs may have attacked her so far is that they were already dispersed through where one would expect students and faculty to be during school hours. Which she wasn’t.

Though just as quickly as it came, it was also gone. Did someone manage to round up the insects anyway? Well damn…that was faster than she was expecting.

“…I’m gonna hang around. There’s gotta be someone in this place who knows what’s going on.” And she already knew exactly how her new companion could help her spy on people.

Let’s just say it was a good thing that stealing food from behind the cafeteria was hilariously easy to do now. Or else she would be going hungry right about now. She found that the idea of not eating at all helped bland food go down easier. Currently, she was nibbling on some leftovers while a string was dangling from in between a pair of plasterboards that made up the ceiling. Which gave her the kind of audio clarity that could only be matched by standing in the hall where everyone was.

If she wasn’t doing this for herself and already found this was possible. She wouldn’t be able to believe it otherwise.

“Gotta say, this is pretty nifty.” She muttered to herself, only pausing when a voice had reached her string.

_“Hello people, I’m Dr Bert Rand.”_

“Doctor huh? Guess that’s standard.” She muttered, pushing her little string further, feeling along the wall for support.

 _“Are you from the government’s disease control centre?”_ A woman’s voice, she heard her arguing with a teacher earlier. At least one person here has the brain to ask the right questions, it’s not like Jolyne is in any position to.

 _“Sure, let’s go with that!”_ The doctor’s voice responded almost cheerily, Jolyne almost chocked on her morsel. That was a yes or no question!

“Where the fuck did this guy go to med school? He should know the CDC.” She was a teenager who hadn’t even graduated high school and she knew!

_“I can assure you that your kids are in good hands and will be transferred to the creepy abandoned hospital on the edge of town.”_

**Red Flag #2** Her mysterious protector weaved next to her, and Jolyne nodded in agreement.

_“Under quarantine?”_

_“Yes, let’s go with that too!”_

_“Oh yeah? And why should we trust you?”_

_“Because I’m with the government and I can audit your taxes if you don’t.”_

_“…we trust you.”_

Jolyne bit down the urge to groan and roll her eyes. This was triggering so many alarm bells in her brain, why was no one else protesting?!

 _“Well, I don’t trust him.”_ Oh? That was a younger voice, one of the kids maybe?  
 _“Sam and Jazz are in that hospital and we have got to find out what’s going on!”_

“At least someone’s got their head screwed on the right way. Yare yare dawa.”

Why did she hear buzzing and why was it getting louder? Her spirit manifested itself, half of the torso, the head, and an arm. She could see heat burning behind those green shades. Oh, wait there!

Another one of those bugs! And it looked like it had its sights set on her as it flew up from the room, she was sitting above…so these creatures weren’t a hivemind.

Because her spirit friend was just as vicious as the first time. Attacking the insect with a hair’s width of time for the poor bastard to react. The _crunch_ from the impact of the spirit’s fist against the support beam next to her was almost deafening, thanks to the several hours of relative quiet she had in comparison.

 _“GHOST!”_ A voice barked in her ear, thanks to the string still poking through and panic took over before she could calm herself. Jolyne turned and bolted, trying to remember where she made mental notes of exits so she could abort mission. The universe was quite happy to offer alternatives that were made specifically to spite her, however.

In the form of the floor being there one second, and then thin air being under her feet the next. There was a wail that died in her throat as light flooded her retinas and burned. Her whole world was thrown violently awry as the string that she hadn’t yet reeled in got caught on something and went taught, flipping her upside down and dangling by a single leg over the roof of the gym. Multiple teens were gaping up in shock and awe at her and where she was seemingly floating upside down in the air unassisted.

“Oh my! Did we miss one!?” The voice matched Dr Bert Rand, who had started running into the gym. Thinking quickly, Jolyne unravelled a part of her finger and swiped it above her. The thread zipped through the air and easily sliced through the string holding her up near the base where it was trapped. Gravity was unforgiving and the wind was punched out of her when she landed heavily on the ground. Her leg _stung_ painfully. Like she had sliced into it with something sharp. More than a few youths around her were confused and snapping things that her disoriented brain couldn’t quite comprehend.

That was when she was unceremoniously hauled off her hands and knees and dangling in the air by two arms who had put her arms in a lock. Something that she took as a threat. Immediately thrashing and wiggling against their hold to break it. They felt, strangely cold for some reason, she had to force herself not to shiver in case they took it as a sign of fear.

“Oh, you poor thing!” She heard the doctor’s voice and found that her mental image of the man was scarily accurate for someone who didn’t know the first thing about medicine. Like he died of the plague back in the 1600s and decided that he wanted to get into modern medicine.  
“Hm…I don’t remember you being among the population of infected teens before. But it's good that you came right to us!” Said with a clearly malicious smile and rubbing his hands together, just to complete the evil mad doctor look he had going on. All the while she was being dragged away from where she had landed towards where all the other teens were being piled into different vaguely ambulance-like vehicles.

“We’ll make sure you get all better!”

“The Hell!? I’m not sick fuck off!” Jolyne protested angrily on instinct, now aware of the sickening feeling of “wrongness” that was creeping up on her. She could see her protector’s strings moving about just underneath the skin like they were ready to lash out at any moment.

She was in a serious amount of danger.

But her leg was protesting even harder now that she was thrashing so much, eventually, she was forced to stop and pull her wounded calf closer to her. There was blood beginning to seep into her jeans now. Like she didn’t bleed enough already.

“Now now child if you keep being violent the doctors may have to take more drastic measures.” Dr Bert Rand was approaching now, with something that she could only describe as “sharp and unwanted”. Jolyne’s instincts were kicked into overdrive.

“I’ll show you drastic measures!” Jolyne’s power manifested fully, a blue arm separating itself from hers and taking a swing at the closest threat. Which happened to be the guard on her right side. Her spirit’s fist collided hard with their head and they went flying a few meters away. Jolyne wrenched her hand out of the other’s grip. Her Spirit’s other arm jumped out to grapple and throw them. Damn this was an adrenaline rush.

But when she turned to start on the doctor, she blinked back a look of surprise, he just disappeared into thin air. Was that normal?!

There was a sharp prick in her neck a moment later that made her yelp and her guardian sent multiple punches that never connected with anything.

“You know I have lived a long time, but I haven’t seen anything like this before.” The doctor’s words gained a funny echo to them, Jolyne was starting to feel light-headed and dizzy, her legs giving out as she collapsed. Fuck, he just drugged her. When did he reappear?

“Maybe there is something different inside of you. We’ll see, sweet dreams!” He taunted. Darkness flooded her vision as the sedatives took hold.  
  
  


* * *

From what Danny knew, the North Mercy hospital was active until around the mid-’60s. When Amity General Hospital was built newer, better and in a more convenient location. The old hospital was shut down due to a lack of funding and the land has been left to rot ever since. Why did he know this? Sam was the simple answer. She liked to read up on creepy and abandoned locations in Amity was the longer one.

Some part of him was inwardly amused at the lack of some letters on the sign, welcoming them to “No Mercy Hospital”. Being half-dead made him appreciate morbid humour all the more.

“AUGH!” He shouted with surprise and pain when he unexpectedly flew into a barrier that electrocuted him until he fell away, sprawled out on his stomach in front of Tucker. Who gave him a somewhat sheepish look and decided to once again, voice his fear of hospitals.

“Well, let’s just come back during visiting hours. Or perhaps, not at all!”

“We can’t do that Tucker.” Danny shot down immediately, picking himself up off the ground.  
“The fact that the hospital has a ghost shield makes it even more suspicious!” For a moment he frowned to himself, thinking of what to do. Then an idea hit him.

“If I can’t get in like a ghost.” He decided, changing back into his human form.  
“Then I’ll have to get in like a kid.”

They devised the plan within minutes and managed to find the front entrance to the hospital, which was strangely open enough for the two of them to get inside.  
“OK just hang out here and wait for me.” The halfa reminded, glancing at Tucker.  
“You got my mom’s Fenton Utility Weapon just in case?”

The answer was Tucker pulling…a silver and green roll of lipstick out of his pocket.  
“It’s a lipstick and an ectoblaster! Because I’m worth it.” He added onto the end with a look Danny didn’t feel like reading at that moment.

“OK then.” He said, as he awkwardly maneuvered himself into Tucker’s arms, good thing he weighed so little. Tucker could carry him with only a little bit of strain.  
“Let’s make this good.” He then played his part and went limp, Tucker carrying him over to the front door. Only stopping when a guard raised his hand to prevent access.

“This area is restricted. No admittance.” They spoke with an obvious ghostly echo in their voice.

“But my friend is sick! He needs to be in the hospital!” Tucker played along anyway, before blinking once.  
“Him! Not me!”

“It’s alright guards, stand down!” It was Dr Bert Rand, had he just been standing at the door the entire time?  
“Has this young man been exhibiting any…ghost-like symptoms?” The doctor asked.

Danny, unimpressed, made himself flicker out of visibility for a moment before turning to normal again. The doctor moved forward, Tucker quickly handed him over and Danny decided to play up his role a little, groaning as the Doctor caught and picked him up.

“Oh no, you poor sick human child! It’s worse than I thought!” Unseen to both boys, the doctor gave a thumbs up to a shadow in the window a few floors up. Who did the same back to him and vanished as the doctor headed inside. Leaving Tucker alone with the guards.

“So…” Tucker spoke up after an awkward pause.  
“What’s the skizzle, fizzles?”

* * *

At some point, Danny felt that he had been taken up a floor and was put into a wheelchair. With the doctor pushing him down the Hall, he felt it was safe to at least crack open an eye and see what was going on. All down the rundown hall, it was populated with the teens from his school. All glowing, green-skinned and moaning. Routinely they were floating, turning invisible, intangible or having puffs of ghost sense escaping them. As they passed Dash, green beams of energy shot out of his eyes and destroyed the TV that he had been watching.

“Daarn! Right at the part where he says, ‘you complete me’.” He groaned, holding his face in his hands with dismay.

At one point, a teen cloaked in intangibility ran by an arm out in front of him.

“Now now son! Must know how to control those powers!” Dr Bert Rand called after the teen, leaving Danny alone in the wheelchair. He waited for a second to see if the doctor was still gone. Then Danny got up and started walking when he didn’t.

He went on past even more teens struggling with ghost powers until he noticed Kwan. The jock blinked and looked up at him.  
“Fenton? You’re in here too?” Danny jumped back as one Kwan suddenly became two. And then even more.  
“Four, six, eight.” All the Kwans asked, speaking in sync.  
“Who do we appreciate!? Us! Us!” That was when he seemed to take notice he just produced seven clones of himself and screamed, the team of Kwans running in different directions.  
“AH! Run! Run for our lives!” Leaving Danny, in the middle of the Hall, looking upset.

“Are you kidding? I have been trying to do that trick for months, that is so wrong!”

“Hello, nurse?” A familiar voice echoed, and Danny immediately moved in its direction.  
“Feeling a little lightheaded, literally!”

“Jazz?” Danny asked, coming across a jar of green, misty ectoplasm sitting on a gurney. Why was his sister’s voice coming from it? He jumped when some of the mist condensed and formed Jazz’s head, looking rightfully freaked out.

He had so many things to yell, but someone screaming took priority.

“I’m going-!” He then remembered he was doing it in front of his sister and moved her jar so she wasn’t staring at him.  
“- ghost!” Danny Phantom took his place and the halfa shot off, tracking down the source of the scream.

He found what he assumed was the right room, and phased in through the wall.  
“Did someone need some help?” He glanced behind him and was almost surprised at who he found.  
“Paulina! Er, it is Paulina, right?”

“You came for me!” Paulina beamed in response, the curtain next to her pulled back and a much grumpier Sam was there.

“He didn’t come for you; he came for me!”

“U-Uh hi…miss.” He started, quickly flying down in front of Paulina.  
“Can you excuse me for a minute?” He quickly ducked behind the curtain and drew it for some privacy with Sam. She looked good…about as good as one could be when their skin was glowing uranium green and floating a foot off the ground.  
“Sam are you alright? I heard a scream!”

“Yeah, that was me. You would scream too if you were stuck in a sleepover with her!”

“Actually I, kind of doubt that.”

“Yoohoo? Ghost boy? Are you done talking to the unpopular girl yet?” Paulina called. When he turned back to Sam, she was already multiple more feet above him, and Danny quickly pulled her to the ground again.

“Uh, heh, be right there!” He called over, giving Sam an ‘I’m so sorry’ look before flying back over to Paulina’s side. Sam, lack of gravity spiting her tonight, was pressed against the ceiling in no time.

“Urgh.”

Paulina burped out another ghost sense as Danny landed next to her.  
“Ew, what is this!?” She asked, disgusted by the chill she got in her lungs.

“It’s called a Ghost Sense.” Danny explained automatically, gasping a little puff of vapour himself.  
“See? It lets you know a ghost is near!”

“Like you.” Paulina concluded dreamily. Danny at this point wanted to keep this on track.

“That bug bite gave you ghost powers. Didn’t anybody explain anything to you?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No, they just brought me in here, took a few tests and stuck me in this room next to Susie Nobody over there,” Paulina responded, pointing at Sam.

“For the record.” The other teen spoke up, glowering down at her.  
“I can hear everything you’re saying.”

“Hold that thought.” Danny said, flying up to help Sam back down off the ceiling again.

“As much as I hate to admit it, she is right about one thing. I don’t know what they’re doing at this hospital.” Sam admitted while Danny started tying down her legs with a bedsheet.  
“Nobody’s talking to us, nobody’s helping us.”

That was when Dr Bert Rand walked into the room, with a face mask on and a canister of something wheeled in beside him. It released a thin green mist into the room. Paulina had next to nothing in the way of defence and slumped against her bedsheets instantly.

“Oh, poor little teen! You’re tired, aren’t you?” He asked, walking past her, and continuing to release more gas into the room. It crept under the curtain and surrounded the two other occupants of the room. Sam yawned, growing drowsy in seconds. She yawned, suddenly losing track of what she was saying.

“Hnn, so, sleepy.” She mumbled, going limp on her bed.

“Sam!? Paulina?” Danny straightened, trying to stay alert but feeling a heaviness pressing down on his ectoplasmic core. Tiredness was setting in at an alarming pace.  
“I’m getting tired. The gas is affecting me?” He asked himself, holding a hand to his head and trying to keep himself upright.

“Of course, child that’s the point!” The doctor pulled away the curtain and revealed himself, Danny whirling around to face him but the world spun dizzily in response.  
“You didn’t think this was an actual hospital did you?” His visage took on a much more familiar, ghostly form.

“You’re Penelope Spectra’s assistant! Bertrand!” Danny realised, but then blinked as the name left his mouth.  
“Bert, Rand. Bertrand, how did I miss that?” He asked, his legs couldn’t hold him up anymore and he collapsed. Bertrand leering over him as he did so.

“Why don’t you mull that over in your last two seconds of consciousness?” He sneered behind his mask.

“Tucker’s right…hospitals stink.” He groaned, his core finally going dormant with the rest of him. Falling onto his side and letting an unconscious Danny Fenton replace him.

* * *

Jolyne’s situation just seemed to get weirder by the day. She was sure she had just been…abducted by something disguising itself as a doctor, for what purpose? She had no idea. She didn’t even know where she was, outside of the idea being maybe the abandoned hospital that was mentioned while she was hiding in the roof.

But waking up to a blaster…gun-like…thing being pointed at her from her would-be roommate. Her glowing, green and panting roommate, was a little bit more extreme than she was expecting. The other teen kept a hard gaze on her, her back pressed against the wall while she glared. Jolyne just staring back in unending confusion.

“Talk. Now.” The teen demanded, to which Jolyne just gave her a flat look.

“About what? The fact you’re probably too young to be carrying an open-carry firearms licence. Would a gun licence even cover what you’re pointing at me?” There was a pause that Jolyne had to clarify.  
“Wait do they need a licence in Illinois?”

“About what the heck you are!” The girl snapped back at her, growling.  
“I heard what the other students were saying about you! You sent one of the guards flying without even touching them! And my equipment keeps picking up _something_ about you! Are you some kind of ghost!?”

Jolyne looked downright offended.  
“Do I look dead to you!?” But that was when she faltered, going back over what the girl said and realising she talked about her Spirit…thing.  
“Wait…you can see this?” She asked, allowing a portion of her arm to start unravelling. The strings coiling and twisting in the air like snakes.

It was almost comical to see how quickly her roommate paled upon seeing Jolyne’s ‘party trick’. Going an interesting shade of lime.  
“Ack! That’s just nasty put it away! Why is it even flickering like that EW!”

Jolyne’s strings pulled back and reassembled into her arm again. She fought the urge to grin in a shit-eating manner. Hey, at least it got her to put the gun down.

“OK, I have seen a LOT of ghosts in my time. But they never do anything like THAT! Just, what...who are you?! You don’t even live in Amity Park!”

“Yeah, I don’t. Guess you could say I was passing through and then got caught up in this mess.” Jolyne admitted, gesturing to the dilapidated room around them.  
“As for the power I…I don’t know, not sure. I think it’s called something but, I’ve only had it a few days.” She admitted, more self-conscious now. Slowly, the girl put her gun away entirely.

“So…some kind of mutant…that happens to get a ping on a ghost radar.”

“Not even the weirdest thing about me.”

“I doubt that but OK.” The other girl sat on her bed, as Jolyne pushed herself to sit up and tilt her head a little. Now that neither of them was freaking out, she could see there was a hint of darker skin under the green glow. Her luminous green eyes were looking Jolyne up and down.  
“So…who are you? Like, name. I can’t call you “worm mutant” forever.”

“You first…and they’re strings actually. Not worms. Feels like silk when you touch them.” Jolyne corrected almost on impulse. The other girl elected to not comment on that.

“…Valerie. Valerie Gray. There. Now you?”

“Jolyne…” Huh, why did she give her real name without even thinking?! Well…too late to go back and fix it now.  
“Jolyne Cujoh.”

“ _Jo_ lyne…Cu _jo_ h.” Valerie echoed back, her brows creasing together.  
“Let me guess, people call you Jojo.”

“Anyone who tries gets my foot in their ass.” Jolyne immediately growled back, expression stormy.  
“Only my mom gets to call me that.”

Valerie raised her hands in the “don’t shoot” gesture.  
“Alright alright, Jolyne it is!”

With a huff, Jolyne got off the bed and started pacing about the room.  
“How long was I out?”

“About an hour since you were brought in here. The clocks don’t work in here, so if you’re looking for more accuracy I can’t.” Valerie huffed, folding her arms.  
“Besides, we’re alone up here on the 4th floor anyway. Since we’re apparently “dangerous” to the other patients here.” Jolyne because she attacked the guards directly and Valerie…because her Red Huntress equipment was being moody. It is designed to completely ignore the wearer. Or else her ecto-signature from all her weapons would be enough to turn the suit on itself. The same could not be said from all the other infected students.

Though she found it weird that Jolyne gave off enough of a signature to pick up on, but the suit was confused on if she was a threat. How could you even do that?  
“…why were you in the roof of the school anyway?”

The green-haired girl paused, her movements stilling in front of Valerie for a moment.  
“Uh…I was kinda walking around at night last night. A big cloud of something buzzing and glowing was moving into the school. One of them tried to bite me but my powers are pretty effective pest control.”

Valerie raised an eyebrow but invited her to continue.

“…I dunno, I just figured you all weren’t going to be protected like I was… just too late to help, I guess.”

By this time, Jolyne had started moving again and was now hovering by the door. That was locked, apparently fiddling with it.  
“You’re not going to get anywhere with that. It’s locked.”

“I know just give me a second!” Jolyne grunted back, stubbornly pressing even more against the door. That was when Valerie noticed the writhing strings flickering in and out of visibility pushing into and trying to unlock the locking mechanism. Why it would flicker between being visible and invisible to her was a mystery she didn’t want to ask about. But her eyebrows shot up when she heard a small ‘click’ and Jolyne tested the door. Finding it now swung open a little when she pushed.

“See? Just took enough convincing!”

“How…just.” Valerie blinked rapidly.  
“How did you do that?”

“Thank my strings.” The girl responded, grinning.  
“Wanna blow this joint?”

Valerie looked down at her legs, frowning as they turned intangible and started to sink through the bed. She pulled them up before they could.  
“I’d like to, but the place is crawling with guard patrols and I’m just gonna slow you down.” She admitted, blushing a toxic green.  
“Just…get to the bottom of this. Maybe there’s a way to cure everyone.”

Jolyne could only nod, understanding that her newfound friend(?) wasn’t in any condition to leave.  
“Alright, I’ll find out what’s going on, beat down whoever’s responsible and come back for you. Hang tight.” She snickered as Valerie started floating upwards of her own accord.

“I can’t do much else!”

* * *

Jesus, Valerie was not joking about the guard patrols. Jolyne was having to dodge one every few minutes. On top of that, they must have just walked into the room to find Valerie alone. Because she was now having to use her strings power to give her a heightened level of awareness just to predict when the next pair of guards were coming and then duck into an empty room to hide from them until they left. Sure, she could just attack every patrol that wandered into her path, but brazenly beating up everything that moved would just tire her out and fast. She didn’t even know how well her power was built to last, or how much raw combat potential it had outside of just forming arms to punch people with.

And yet another new benefit to her odd powers. Parkour. She found that there was truly little that could stop her in her tracks for long when she had a living safety net or harness hanging around inside her waiting to be summoned. It could even be used to send her flying forward at much higher speeds than just her legs alone could manage. It was invigorating on some deeply personal level.

That was not what she was trying to focus on, an office. An operating room, anywhere where she could get some information on this weird-ass disease and stop it from hurting anyone else. If she could just find the stairs or _somewhere important._

“Well look at that, up for five minutes and you’re wandering already!” Jolyne stiffened at the sound of an annoyingly familiar voice and turned, scowling at the sight of Dr Bert Rand. Just leering at her with his hands clasped together.  
“Unfortunately, patients shouldn’t be leaving their assigned rooms, especially if they have a history of attacking doctors.”

Jolyne snarled at him in response, her Spirit manifesting partially in the form of its head, torso and left arm.  
“As if you’re some fucking doctor, the only thing I know for sure is that you’re not helping a damn kid in this building! What the Hell are you?!” She snapped at him, fully prepared to just try her luck at attacking him a second time. She had to blink back a look of surprise and confusion when instead the man’s form shifted into something much smaller. But more smartly dressed with a white curl to his hair.

Oh, and he was glowing, every inch of him. With the kind of energy that made her hair stand on end. Hovering above her, the Spirit attached to her grew much more aggressive, like it was only exaggerating the minute alarm bells in her mind. He was floating about a foot off the ground as well and Jolyne took an alarmed step back. With a quick mental comparison to Valerie, yeah. She could only assume this was what a natural ghost looked like.  
“So you could see through me? Pretty unusual, most of the people in this town are laughably easy to fool. But enough about that, it’s time for your appointment kid!” The ghost told her, ill intent filling the entire hall. Jolyne only responded with her Guardian’s fist.  
  
 _“ORA!”_ The Stand itself bellowed a war cry. Only barely missing the ghost and sending a spiderweb of cracks racing all over the wall instead.

“Yeah?! Well, I’m gonna revoke your medical licence!” Jolyne snapped back, only faltering when she realised that the ghost had disappeared. _Again._ She did hear the laughter echoing around her, using the old hall to make it impossible to tell where they were.

Almost on its own, Jolyne’s body produced a few more strings that hung idly in the air around her. Like her power could sense the growing unease she had.

“And how are you supposed to do that child? You can’t even see me, let alone beat me!” One of her strings quivered without warning, an intense chill spreading through from where that string was connected to her body. But it was already too late for her to act on whatever information this could have been because the heavy weight of a large feline had pushed her to the floor and pinned her there. She let out a furious scream and her guardian tried to attack, but the fist only travelled through thin air. Crushing the ground next to her.

“You know, humans are just so predictable. Now, you can either give up and come along willingly, or we do things the hard way.”

“If I had an arm free, I’d be showing you how to say “fuck off” in Naples with a gesture.” Jolyne gasped after those words left her mouth, feeling something tighten around her torso. Her arms became pinned against her sides and back, she tried to wiggle. But the material constricted even harder until it was difficult to breathe. Leather and metal clinked and creaked in her ears. The material wasn’t exactly soft either, rubbing against her skin in a way that was surely irritating it.

When the ghost shifted back into human form again and hauled her to her feet and then off the ground, she discovered, with intense dismay, that somehow, he had gotten a straitjacket on her. It covered most of her upper body and made moving her arms virtually impossible. Her legs swayed a little bit thanks to the lack of ground. In a panic, she tried to summon her guardian again, but not even when it was halfway out something twitched against her back and a powerful electrical voltage coursed through her. She had to bite her tongue to avoid screaming.

“Well, it was made to shut down ghost powers, but it seems it works on yours well enough!”

This was a shit situation and it just kept getting worse, didn’t it?

* * *

Danny had no idea how long he was out for, but he woke up in the feel of a human body and a dull headache. The fact he couldn’t move was a fast way to tell that something was wrong and the boy groaned, trying to push the fog of unconsciousness back and wake up fully.

“Urgh, where am I?” He asked, mostly to himself. When he opened his eyes, he didn’t see Sam’s bed or the curtain, but the lights of an operating room were bearing down on him. He yelped, going alert and seeing he was being held down by luminous green belts over his torso and legs. Keeping him tied down against the metal table in the run-down building.

He grunted, pulling left and right as he struggled to try and free himself from the restraints. But his Ghost Core was alarmingly unresponsive. No matter how much he called to it no transformation would occur. And well…he wasn’t particularly good at escaping while he was human.

“Save it, kid!” Bertrand had entered the room, floating a few feet off the ground and…carrying someone else? No, Danny recognised her immediately. The green-haired girl from this afternoon back at Casper High. Now she was in a straitjacket and alternating between hyperventilating in Bertrand's grip and thrashing wildly to escape. Her struggles were only causing the periods where she had to still and get her breath back.

Just a simple glance told Danny she wasn’t even infected by the ghost bugs. She still wasn’t displaying any symptoms. In fact, she was more lively than all the other Casper High students put together right now.

“Those restraints are ghost proof! You and this little lady here-“ The girl in question tried to kick at Bertrand, but her angle made hitting him nearly impossible.  
“-are in for the duration!” He declared, carelessly throwing the girl to the floor next to the end of the gurney. She grunted with the impact but struggled to try and get up without the use of her arms and hands.

Danny glanced beside him, gulping at many, many sharp tools on display next to him. Bertrand floated away with an annoyingly smug look on his face, and Danny forcibly pushed himself up as much as he could. Now frustrated.

“Somebody tell me what’s happening here!” He shouted, the female beside him finally managed to get up without falling over and decided then and there to join in.

“Yeah, some fucking information would be real nice!”

As if on cue, the lights blared much stronger than before, nearly blinding Danny in the process. The black shape he managed to see was familiar though, and perhaps he should have expected it.

After all, wherever Bertrand was, his mistress was rarely far behind.

“Allow me.” The shadowy, flowing shape purred above them, the mystery girl let out a startled yelp at the reveal, stumbling back and falling right back onto her ass where she started.  
“You know how we therapists like to talk it all out!”

“Woah what the fuck happened to you!?” The mystery girl shouted, not even attempting to shy away from some colourful language, while Danny just glared at a familiar foe.

“Spectra!”


	5. Disobeying the Doctor's Orders - Part 3 Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spectra has returned and unveils her plans about the ghost virus. A Stand gets named, ghosts get ora'd. And both Jolyne and Danny are surprised to learn there is someone else in the world like them. And in Danny's case. Isn't a crazed up fruitloop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very late Merry Christmas and slightly less late happy new year everyone! I finally come out with the first chapter of 2021! Let's hope it can at least be a little better than in 2020.
> 
> Some more warnings for the chapter ahead.  
> \- Mild torture scene  
> \- More bullying.  
> \- Probably a little more body horror that isn't because of Stone Free this time. 
> 
> I mean come on guys. Spectra. She's basically her own warning label. 
> 
> Other than that, here's hoping you enjoy the chapter!

Tucker had been left standing outside of the hospitals main entrance for some time, where the two ghost guards continued to float out the front. They hadn’t left there, even though Danny had been in there for over an hour. The lone teen frowned him his hidden position in the bushes. It wasn’t even exactly like they were kicking him off the property either. He had been there, and they knew it but made no attempt to make him go anywhere.

He was starting to get sick of crouching outside of the hospital for ages on end. And began to weigh up his options.  
“Spooky hospital.” Check.  
“Ghosts guarding the joint.” Check.  
“Still. No signs that Danny is in any real danger.” With any amount of luck maybe he could just slip away from the hospital completely unnoticed and never have to come anywhere near here again! Danny was half ghost surely, he could handle himself-  
  
“Let me go!”

That was Danny’s voice, unmistakably, coming from inside the hospital. Tucker paled a little but tried to rationalise his way out of it.

“OK that was Danny, but still, not technically a cry for help!”

“HELP!” Danny’s voice shouted again, louder than before; Tucker flinched but pressed on stubbornly.

“Still, technically, not a cry for me!”

 ** _“TUCKER!”_** Danny practically screamed at the top of his lungs and Tucker groaned.

“Aw, man…” The Fenton Utility weapon came out of his pocket, and his home-made cologne soon after, where he stood proud.

The ghost guards looked up as Tucker moved from his hiding spot towards them with an unusually determined look on his face. They just glanced between one another, confused on if they should do anything for a moment. Before Tucker only smirked and began generously applying his body spray. The acrid odour filled the air around them and the two ghosts started to cough rapidly, apparently, it smelled just as bad to them as it did to humans.

Tucker was not as sympathetic to their situation.

“Oh please, you’re ghosts! Do you have any idea what you smell like?” He asked, before pointing the bright green lipstick at the two ghosts and firing. He wasn’t quite expecting the strength of the recoil and he was sent flying back. A beam of energy blasting the two guards right off the platform and leaving a smoking hole in the door. Tucker grunted and pulled himself up off the floor and looked down at the still smoking utility weapon. Feeling a surge of sudden confidence in his systems.  
“Don’t worry Danny! The cavalry’s coming! Whether he wants to or not.” Before he headed inside the now-vacant front door.

The entrance was practically deserted inside and finding a way to the floor above was easy. Just to be safe, Tucker got his hands on a mask and surgeon’s apron. Gulping a little before he opened the door to the ward where all the infected teens were being kept.

“Ah!” He jumped back a little with a yelp as one of his fellow nerd kids floated through the floor in front of him.

“Tucker? Is that you?” Sam’s voice echoed from the hall, but Tucker couldn’t see the goth.

“Sam? Is that you?” He echoed back, looking around for her.  
“Where are you?”

“Up here.” He traced where her voice was coming from and looked up…only to find her floating spread-eagled against the ceiling.

“Sam?!” He asked with disbelief, pulling his mask down.  
“Ha, and you call me an airhead!”

“You know you should really stop and consider all the vile things I could do to you from up here.”

Tucker immediately pressed himself against the wall.  
“I think Danny’s really in trouble! Have you seen him?” He couldn’t exactly help but watch as Sam twisted her arms in mid-air to awkwardly push herself along the ceiling to get closer to him.

“Urgh, a while ago. But I fell asleep! By the time I woke up he was gone. There’s something evil happening here.”

“It’s a hospital, Sam, there’s always something evil happening here.” Tucker huffed, throwing away his garments in the nearest bin.  
“We have to find Danny.”

“Unfortunately, I think “we” means “you” I’m pretty useless, and there are cameras and guards everywhere.” Sam told him, trying to move a little more freely but finding her levitation as unwilling to cooperate as ever. But that was when Tucker managed to spy a closed air vent duct that was conveniently large enough for him to get inside.

“But not in there! Hey, open that vent!” He pointed it out eagerly, Sam glancing at the vent in question before pulling it open. The rusted and corroded bolts had almost no resistance before they gave and came loose.

Tucker, meanwhile, had been wrestling with an IV drip that looked weirdly filled with ectoplasm. Fashioning the ends into small lassos, he threw the ends up to loop around Sam’s feet. She came down from the ceiling with a little yelp as she did so. When she was closer to the floor, Tucker tied the IV drips around the stand, now letting Sam float awkwardly like a helium balloon tied on a string.

The goth was visibly unhappy with the arrangement but didn’t get much chance to argue as Tucker grabbed onto a spare chair and pushed it against the wall so he could climb into the vent. Before he left though, he turned around and gave Sam a sheepish look.

“If I’m not back soon just, float there OK?”

Sam returned the order with a flat look, but he turned around and climbed deeper into the vent system anyway.  
  
  


* * *

“What do you want?!” Danny growled at the floating shadow, almost forgetting the audience he currently had in the form of the mystery girl looking between him and the spectre.

 _‘They know each other?’_ She wasn’t sure how a teenager…that looked weirdly familiar to her. Would know about this ghost, but maybe that was a good thing.  
_‘I can’t just sit here and look pretty until they decide to let me go. This damn straitjacket, it’s going to electrocute me if I try and summon my spirit.’_ That much she knew but blinked a look of surprise when a little thread of her string wiggled in front of her eye, having separated from a portion of her cheek to stay discreet.  
_‘One of my strings? But I’m not being electrocuted…is the single thread not strong enough to register?’_

Maybe…maybe she could try and pull the mechanisms keeping this damn thing on her without needing to create the larger entity at all. She just had to stay relatively quiet and maybe multitask if any questions came to her.

A string, two strings, three strings. One at a time, keep it slow….

Meanwhile, the conversation continued, and Jolyne strained to listen in and pay attention to both tasks at once.

“What everybody wants Danny.” The shade responded, confirming both knew one another and it wasn’t just the boy. His name was Danny.  
“And for me, that means being beautiful!” Urgh, shallow bitch. Jolyne yelped and pulled her strings back underneath her restraints when she felt the shade pick her up with a startling amount of ease. Pushing both forward to a closed cabinet that Jolyne could see a large pipe leading into the top. She was dropped again a few feet away, just as roughly as the last time.

“Ack! You hag!” Jolyne hissed, pushing herself up onto one knee.

“Now, good children do need to wait their turn.” The shadowy figure hummed, Jolyne getting fixed by a particularly malicious grin. She could only snarl back wordlessly, deeply disturbed in her core. Her guardian, unable to manifest fully, crawled underneath the surface of her skin.  
_‘Not now, just a little longer…’_

“Yeah, I don’t think I need to listen to any adult when they look like a bunch of cinders decided to start floating.”

To give herself some credit. She saw that ghost twitch like she just slapped them across the face. It was gratifying for sure. For a moment, she floated away from Danny and started to approach her. Jolyne’s almost automatic response was pressing herself a little more against the wall and urging her spirit to _hurry it up back there._ But she stopped before the spectre could encroach too much on her personal space and took on an almost smug expression, leaning her shadowy chin on the bridge of her clawed fingers.

“Oh, so much disrespect towards authority. So much anger. Let me guess honey. Broken living situation?”

“Spectra don’t you dare-“ Danny growled warningly, but Spectra ignored him. Considering his lack of threat.

The distinct flinch that ran through the girl underneath her was as much confirmation as an outright “yes”. Oh, the misery would have tasted delicious had it not been so thoroughly tainted with new waves of raw anger.

“And judging by the state of you, I would say either kicked out of home or a runaway. Oh, honey, you’re quite a small fish in a big and very dark sea, aren’t you?” Jolyne could tell it wasn’t pity, just sadistic glee and superiority masquerading as pity.

Her tense moment of silence was not a victory she was willing to give the shadow.  
“D-Don’t patronise me.” She hated to hear how her voice wavered with her confidence, and her efforts were in vain just to rub it in. Spectra floating away with a victorious smirk adorning her features. Jolyne was left against the wall and stewing in significant amounts of hatred.

She was going to _ruin this bitch._

“And before I got ‘sidetracked’. It’s why I’m assembling this!” Spectra proudly threw open the doors to a metal cabinet with a metal pipe connecting to the top. Jolyne’s eyes almost widened at the sight of what looked to be an artificial body with flaming red hair, purple triangular earrings hung from her ears. Wearing a two-piece, skin-tight suit made of black and green with high heel boots. Her Spirit bristled under her skin at the sight of it.

“A brand new me! Fashioned from only the best teen genetics.” She boasted, grinning.

“And the ghost bugs? The ‘virus’?” Danny pressed on, seeing as Spectra was now focused on him, better keep that focus. He wasn’t going to get the other occupant hurt.

“All part of my plan. I needed to get the children away from the adults, all in one place!” Spectra floated over to a rounded steel door in the wall, pressing a button on the side that allowed it to slide back, revealing the ominous glowing lights within.  
“So I can siphon away the best qualities of each of them! Jazzs brain, Dashs muscles, Paulinas nearly flawless skin!”

“Nearly flawless?” Danny echoed with a raised eyebrow.

“She has a mole, isn’t it obvious?” Probably the most normal tone that Spectra had taken since she revealed herself, giving Danny a flat look in response. The teen she was holding captive just blinked at her.

“I had to treat them all with my little ghost virus to get them all in one place!”

“And the ghost powers?” The green-haired mystery girl perked up a little at the mention of the virus. He knew about them.

“A side effect.” Spectra responded dismissively, floating over to the end of the boy’s gurney.  
“At some point, the powers will be too much and they’ll all burn out, into little withered husks! Won’t that make a great class photo?” The attempt at humour was lost on both teens present.

“Y-You’re a murderer!” Jolyne was aghast at just how insane this ghost was. There had to be at least a hundred kids in this place and she knowingly infected all of them knowing that her created disease was fatal!  
“What makes you think you can get away with any of this?!”

“Oh, but I already have!” Spectra chirped in response, wheeling the captured boy towards the ominous contraption in front of them, leaving Jolyne alone, still thrashing on the floor.  
“And you Danny, you’re the grand prize! I need your DNA to lock my perfect body together, so it never burns out, and never grows old! How helpful are you!”

“And what about her?” Danny finally found an opportunity to speak up about the one unknown occupant, who glared hotly at him from where she was still bound.

“Now that is an interesting case, something I haven’t seen before. And as a ghost as old as I am, that’s impressive! But what can I say, freaks of a feather must flock together!” Spectra cackled before pushing Danny fully into the machine and pressing the “on” button. The machinery whirred to life and closed on the boy. Leaving Jolyne alone in the room with a ghost who didn’t think twice about premeditated murder.  
  


* * *

  
Danny, inside the machine and fearing what Spectra might do to that girl if they were left alone together, continued to squirm hard. But these restraints were _tight_. There was no way he was going to break himself free in time. So maybe…  
“If needs Fenton DNA that badly.” He realised, remembering what had been occupying his human forms pocket this whole time.  
“Maybe I can provide a substitute!”  
  


* * *

  
“Now, where were we?” The ghost asked with a sly grin, floating over, and getting right in Jolyne’s personal space. Her back was once again pressed hard against the wall.  
“Oh right! Sitting down and talking out all your little problems! After all, that’s what Casper High used to pay me for!”

“You’re fucked up six ways to Sunday and you want to talk about _my issues?!”_ Jolyne shot back aggressively. Even then, she couldn’t deny feeling a slight pang of fear clawing at her conscious. All the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up. Instincts screamed at her to _get out_.

“Whatever you say about me, dear. I wouldn’t quite be so inclined to listen to a ceiling rat made out of thread.” Spectra took great pleasure in watching the girl freeze at her insult.  
“No matter how special you think you are, you’re really just a freaky little kid. With a freaky little _party trick_.” Oh, that misery was truly a delight.

“Your misery feels almost as good as the boys. Is that why you’re so far from home, honey? Your parents found out about what a freak you really are and kicked you out?”

That statement had Jolyne seeing red like nothing ever has before.  
“Don’t you _dare_ talk about my family like that you bitch!”

“And who’s stopping me?” Spectra sneered.

"I bet you're so proud of your fucked-up plan to get a makeover huh. Well, no amount of crap covering your form is going to change the _ugly fucking hag_ you are inside." The moment those words left the teen’s mouth she could almost sense the line she had just crossed. The lights in the derelict building flickered ominously. It almost looked like the shadowy mass of Spectra’s form had grown darker. Which made the increased strength of her glowing eyes stand out even more.

“You know? I was originally going to be a little gentler about this, but if you’re insisting on being so _rude.”_ Her claws had grown longer, and it was with an almost invisible speed that they wrapped hard around the throat of the teen underneath her. Jolyne let out a choked off cry, her eyes almost bulging with the unexpected action and beginning to struggle as she felt the points of spectra’s fingers digging into her skin. Enough to draw blood.

Though another feeling overtook the pain of being caught in a chokehold. Like Spectra had grabbed onto _something_ unnamed within her that was fighting just as hard to be let go of. Though its efforts proved to be just as fruitless. As Spectra began to pull though, she could feel that thing underneath her skin being forcefully pulled away with it. Her protector was _thrashing_ with a new level of fury underneath her skin. Did…did the ghost just grab her by her spirit? And well, said Spirit looked just as surprised and confused as her.

Jolyne and her power didn’t get the chance to dwell on this, as whatever mechanism the straitjacket used to electrocute her sensed the (forced) display of spiritual energy and went wild. The teen let out a choked off cry and was forced to go ramrod straight as electricity burned all over. It was her Spirit who started howling with a mixture of rage and agony for her, in a voice that was almost identical to her own. With Spectra’s clawed hand still gripped tight around its neck, it had defaulted to both its hands grappling with the arm to try and force a release. It was just about the only thing they could do, with how badly they were convulsing.

Spectra didn’t seem to care about the agony she was causing the teen, in fact, she happily drank up the swell of painful emotions that Jolyne was spilling into the environment. She’d never held a human soul like this before. They were normally such fickle and…incorporeal things, wiggling between the fingers. Yet this one was so physical it was almost a separate entity, humanoid just like the body she pulled it from (interesting, the girl was somehow conscious through all this). It was fixing her with an emotion streaked somewhere between intense pain and unbridled hatred.  
“Ooohoho, this is something brand new! Your soul is so vibrant, what could you have possibly done to achieve something like this? Is it even genetic?” The power that she held was incredible, and just like when she first met the boy, it was so _raw_ and unrefined. Perhaps this was a very recent development.

But when she looked down, her Core almost froze up due to the shock. Because all the convulsing and flailing of the girl underneath her had dislodged a bit of the cloth covering her neck. Emblazoned and deeper pink than the pale skin surrounding it, raised above the surrounding area was a birthmark. A 5-pointed star.

 _Just like him._ In her revelation, Spectra’s grip had loosened on the Soul. It pulled away violently and returned to the teen who finally felt the straitjacket stop attacking her. Jolyne collapsed to the side, twitching, and coughing uncontrollably, gasping for air. 

“Urgh, of every family in the Zone why did you have to be descended from _them?”_ The smoky ghost snarled, clawing a hand through her wispy hair. Though the machine she had shoved the boy behind lit up, and green smoke began to pour out of the container where the unfinished body lay. Spectra looked elated.  
“Excellent! No matter! I’ve accomplished what I needed to! Perhaps you’ll be a good enough scapegoat.” She cackled, floating over to the door and pulling the boy out (she would have caught his weirdly happy expression if she wasn’t reeling from earlier).

There was a moment of ‘deer in the headlights’ before the boy’s brain kicked into gear.  
“I mean-you fiend!” Spectra ignored him completely and went over to retrieve her new “completed” body. After holding it up in the air she dived into it. Allowing her form to take up shape like she was fitting into a costume. The empty eyeholes filled with her malicious greens and she flew out of the room, laughing even more evilly as she went.

For a moment it was just the two teens left alone in the dark, the only sound coming from Jolyne rolling over and groaning. Curling in on herself to try and control her twitching legs.

Then the gate over the ceiling vent was kicked open, and from the opening dropped Tucker.  
“Hello, models!” He greeted, holding his arms out before he realised that his fantasy wasn’t what he should be worried about.  
“I-I mean Danny! You’re OK!” He corrected himself, running over to the side of the gurney.

“Tucker! You broke into the hospital!” Danny grinned in response, before thinking over what he just said.  
“You, broke into a hospital?”

“Please stop saying the word “hospital”. Because I will run and leave you here to perish.” But Tucker was already taking a step back and activating the utility weapon he had been supplied with. Shooting out the buckles holding Danny down. The halfa let out a whoop of excitement and jumped up, almost immediately shifting into his ghost form, joyed at the freedom.

Then he remembered the other occupant in the room and whirled around to find her. He couldn’t help but feel relief as she was facing away from him and Tucker. But the smell of singed flesh invaded his nostrils and his fear of the girl seeing him transform was replaced with concern over her wellbeing.

“Tucker, help me out here!” He floated over and landed next to where the girl lay, breathing ragged and shivering. The moment he bent down he could see the attempts she had already made to wiggle out of the restraints Bertrand had put her in, but it hadn’t been completely successful. Tucker appeared beside him a moment later and bent down, helping him undo the straps holding the bindings together.

“I don’t remember her going to our school dude.”

“She’s the one who fell out of the ceiling back at Casper. I saw Bertrand dragging her away.” That’s where he recognised her from.

“I don’t…go to your school.” The girl groaned, starting to move and force herself into a sitting position. She looked very relieved to have the damn straitjacket finally come off. She panted, struggling to her feet, and leaning on the wall to get her sense of balance back.  
“…thanks.” She breathed, glancing between the two of them. Before her eyes landed on the ghostly boy and she jumped back, her eyes going wide with surprise.  
“It’s you!”

“Me?” Danny responded, caught between playing dumb and being genuinely confused.  
“A-I-Uh. Y-You are mistaken! C-Citizen!” He decided to play dumb.

The green-haired girl just blinked at him, but shook her head, talk about this later.  
“We don’t have time to talk about this, people are going to get hurt, I’ll keep your secrets.” Before she breathed in, raising her right arm and Danny watched in a mixture of awe and horror as said arm began to quite literally, unravel. Exposing holes in her skin where more string lay waiting to come loose. Tucker yelped behind him. It was the same kind of string that he saw back at the high school.  
“If you can keep mine.” Then it wound itself up again until the strings transformed themselves back into her arm as if it had never happened.

It took a second for Danny to comprehend what he had just seen; his ghost sense hadn’t even reacted to give him an easy answer. But no matter how hard he analysed the girl in front of him? There was no sense of malice to latch onto.

She was just trying to help them.  
“Okay.” He nodded, deciding to place some trust in this mystery girl for now. Despite the rising discomfort in his Core.  
“Let’s go.”

* * *

  
  
Bertrand found something to add to his small list of human inventions he truly despised. The accursed television was broadcasting an old musical, and it had the worst singing that ever assaulted his ears. Apparently? The human next to him had hearing issues.

“Ahhh, when she sings “wind beneath my wings”? I just go to pieces.” Dash sighed with a dreamy expression. Bertrand just rolled his eyes with a growl.

“What’s up doc?” He jumped at the sound of an all too familiar voice that sounded from the Hallway. And there Danny Phantom was floating and unhappy to see him again.

“You-!” He didn’t get the chance to say much more as Danny had already shot a beam of ecto energy from his hand that sent the assistant soaring into a wall. By the time he looked back up, the girl had appeared beside the halfa. Her unusual Soul burning underneath her skin.

Bertrand saw red, and his shapeshifting abilities took hold.

“What the fu-“ Jolyne gaped, aghast as he started to shift and form. Seeing the ghost’s skin literally bubbling like a soup that had been left on the boil for too long until he had mutated into an enormous zombie surgeon, complete with his head cracking apart to reveal a brain inside.

Dash, who had been on the couch this whole time, stood up and wisely fled screaming.

Danny tensed a little, his protective obsession flaring in his core when he recognised the intent to fight. But his new mystery helper refused to back down, instead, some of her weird string ability began to manifest. The threads coiling in the air around her like snakes.  
“Getting bigger just makes it easier to bring down!”

Tucker immediately raised his utility weapon in an attempt at a response.  
“Don’t move! This both moisturises, and repairs damage from the wind and sun!”

Jolyne wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to accomplish with that, because the weapon was unceremoniously thrown out of his hands not moments later. Bouncing across the floor to where a student she vaguely recognised was staggering along in a daze. Apparently, she took ominously glowing lipstick as the perfect colour for her and raised the still primed blaster to her face.  
  
“Paulina-I mean what’s your name NO!” The ghost boy shouted and dived. All while the larger ghost began to advance on the now disarmed human. Now or never, Jolyne decided.

With a battle-cry, she threw herself at the ghost and almost bowled him over. The arms of her Spirit manifesting beside her to start throwing a flurry of punches. More than a few managed to land directly on Bertrand's mutant face.

She hadn’t been aware at the time, but a slew of “ora” had started to spill out of her mouth while she attacked. Almost on an instinct.  
_“ORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!”_  
  
One of her fists passed through thin air and then she landed heavily on the floor, her Spirit manifesting a little more to try and cushion the fall.  
“You should give up, human. Whatever kind of freak you are.” Bertrand spat. Although his insult was…difficult to take seriously now.

“Try looking less like a Frankenstein’s monster! You’ll not sound like a hypocrite!” Jolyne shot back with a snarl, Bertrand’s face went a deeper shade of green and he vanished into thin air again.

“Damnit, this fucking trick again.” She grunted, getting back up and trying to locate where the invisible menace had disappeared to this time. Once again, something cold passed by a thread just hanging idly in the air and Jolyne shuddered on instinct.

 _Wait._ She threw out more strings until it looked like the section of the hall was covered in the web of an exceptionally large spider.

“You’re so predictable! That won’t help-!”

 _“ORA!”_ Bertrand had manifested and was just a moment too slow to see Jolyne’s power jump out from her back and drive its fist into his face. He yelped, his nose cracking the floor heavily underneath him. Which was shortly followed up by another round of lightning-fast and surprisingly strong punches. His form wavered a little, but he forced himself to hold onto his large and intimidating form.

“H-How? How did you see through that?!” He demanded, confused, and a little scared at how much someone who wasn’t even a ghost managed to hurt him.

“Simple, there’s a reason why the “fool me once” proverb only goes as far as twice. You dumbass.” The green-haired teen snarled back at him, but she was looking a little worn down herself.  
_Damnit, I’ve been using this power almost non-stop today. I don’t know how much longer I can last._

Bertrand was almost looming over her and made a grab for the girl when he was interrupted, blasted in the chest and right back into the wall, where he finally couldn’t hold onto his form anymore and changed back into his normal human one.

“Dude, your bedside manner reeks. I think we need to send you back to nursing school!” Phantom had shown up again and shot a beam of white-blue energy out of a cylindrical device that he held in his hand. Catching Bertrand in his ray and trapping him inside, the ghost screaming all the while. He had just finished putting the cap on when the two were reminded of the other threat they had yet to put down.

“Very impressive you two, but a bit late I’m afraid!” And their Spectra was, in all the glory of her new body.

“I AM in a modelling agency!” Tucker cried, looking way too happy to see the spectre. Something that Jolyne did not feel like commenting on now.

“It’s nice, right? Smart, beautiful, deadly?”

“Stolen more like!” Jolyne shot back, manifesting the true extent of her Spirit for the first time.  
“Come on bitch! I’ll show you how they flip you off in Naples!” Probably a bad move, because Spectra almost immediately responded by firing a beam of purple energy from her hand that wrapped around her spirit and threw it down the hall. It was a weird sensation, the phantom squeeze and then pull as she followed her soul and broke a gurney under the force of her impact. No sooner had the girl problem been thrown away, the energy hand grappled Danny by the leg and pulled him up, slamming him into the ground.

Tucker, finally snapping out of the trance of seeing a remarkably attractive woman, ran for the lipstick to fire at the ghost, but Spectra dodged it by dropping to the ground. But this gave Danny the time to get back up and ram her down the hall. Yet another gurney became a victim in the scuffle as a small horde of Kwans scattered like frightened chickens. A jar fell into Spectra’s lap containing a familiar voice.

_“I can’t feel my toes!”_

“Let’s see if you feel this!” Spectra got up, and threw Jazz’s jar across the hall, the afflicted human inside screaming in terror as she went.

“NO!”

“I got it!” One of the Kwans raised their arms and caught the Jazz-jar, holding it like a football.  
“Go long, other Kwans!” The duplicates started running down like they were playing an actual game of football. Despite Danny turning invisible and intangible and running through all the Kwan duplicates, the one holding Jazz still managed to throw before he could take it off him.

Jolyne, meanwhile, had managed to get herself back up after crashing and saw the jar (with a human head?!) soaring across the air and kicked herself into action.  
“I got it!” Her string shot out of her fingers, catching the jar in midair and pulling it until it was safe in her hands.

_“Ah! Thanks! Whoever you are!”_

“Don’t mention it!” She ran up, passing the jar of human consciousness off to Tucker as she ran by.

“…uh…hi Jazz.”

_“Is this a bad time to tell you that your fly is down?”_

The younger ghost was very relieved to see that his sister was alright and charged at Spectra again. Only to be caught and electrocuted until his legs gave out and he collapsed on the floor instead. Spectra’s boot slammed into his chest to pin him there, even if he grabbed onto her ankle to try and push back. It was still a lot of force.

Jolyne throwing herself at the ex-therapist didn’t accomplish much either. The ghost backhanded her once she was in range and Jolyne yelped as she was thrown backwards. The wall she hit completely crumbled under the force. Showering old plaster and brick all over her. She managed to stagger to her feet, leaning on the caved-in wall and battered significantly. Coughing dust out of her lungs, and some deep part of her began to worry when she saw the glow in Spectra’s eyes growing in intensity.

“Ah, your DNA is finally kicking in!” The glow spread from her eyes until her entire body’s aura was burning with ecto-energy.  
“Which means I should be all-powerful in 3, 2, 1!” The glow began to grow solid it was so powerful, expanding, becoming ever more dangerous until…

Jolyne couldn’t help but blink back a look of absolute shock at the utter size that she became in the blink of an eye. Before it quickly turned to the desperate wheezing of someone who found the scene before her far too funny for words. Judging by the horrified and slack-jawed expression on her face? Spectra had not been expecting a massive change of body type to be quite so big and…square? She didn’t even fit into her clothes anymore.

“What?! What happened!? Why do I suddenly feel like blathering on about ghosts? And why do I feel like eating fudge? Lots and _lots of fudge?”_

“Those are genetic traits?” Jolyne couldn’t help but ask, beyond confused herself now. But Danny looked like the cat who finally caught the canary and then ate it in front of the owner for extra smug points.

“You wanted Fenton DNA! Unfortunately, you got it…courtesy of my dad’s nose.” Jolyne gagged upon hearing how the kid cheated Spectra’s game. But then felt like full-on hurling once the transformation took hold and the rather gross form of a heap of mucus looking vaguely like the failed Spectra body took her place.

Understandably, the ghost started screaming in horror at the body she was occupying.

“There’s a “you blew it” pun in here somewhere but? I’d rather not.” Danny grunted getting up from the floor.

“Fucking brutal. Nice.” Jolyne was leaning on the broken wall, guffawing at just how badly Spectra’s plan had backfired on her.

The giant snot pile given consciousness screeched with rage, flinging herself at Danny and grappling him by the neck, where he was thrashing to escape.  
“You’re doomed, kid! And you know what? So are your friends! Now that those bugs have dug into them, there’s nothing that can get ‘em out!”

Tucker’s face hardened a little in response.  
“That’s what she thinks!” He turned around and ran off somewhere.

“Will you please, GET OFF ME!” The halfa shouted, pushing up to punch Spectra in the face. His hand came away coated in a layer of mucus because it just sunk into her face instead.  
“…you know, if my life wasn’t at stake I’d hurl right now.” Spectra lunged at him, and Jolyne interrupted with a swing from her Spirit.

“Don’t forget this is two on one!” Spectra, stuck to the ceiling from her mucus looked more enraged than ever.

“OK that’s it, let’s BOOGIE!” Jolyne made a face at the proclamation.

“See? That’s the kind of pun I was avoiding with the whole “blew it” comment.” Danny pointed out, though Spectra still lunged at them again anyway.

-

While the two were trying to defeat the mutant Spectra, Tucker had crawled back into the vents, trying to find the controls for the air vent he had seen earlier.  
“Bingo!” It barely even took a minute and took out his signature body spray.  
“Whoever said odour isn’t everything, never met Tucker Foley!” He aimed the spray at the centre of the AC Unit and changed the control to its maximum setting.  
“Here goes!” 

-

Danny and Jolyne quickly found that the transformation Spectra had undergone, while hilarious and humiliating for the ghost in question, was quickly turning against them. All the physical blows were being almost seamlessly absorbed by the sentient mass. Even the high-speed flurries that Jolyne’s powers gave her access too. Not to mention the fists of her guardian would come back coated in the gross substance and made her gag in response. Even Danny’s beams of ecto energy only served to briefly cook the substance that Spectra was composed of.

It was a disgusting smell.

Even Jolyne using her threads to sever limbs only served as a temporary benefit. Since the mass that was lost could just be reabsorbed and the limb grew back like nothing happened. Spectra swung as Danny attempted to fly in and take another shot at her. And he impacted a disposal bin where the contents spilled everywhere. When Jolyne tried to stop her approach with an uppercut from her Guardian, the ghost just grabbed her arm and threw her up, breaking the ceiling and making the world spin dangerously. Almost automatically, a few strings flew out to wrap around different parts and leave her dangling in the air, looking significantly worse for wear.

When she went to wipe her mouth, her saliva came away mixed with blood. Not to mention the good portion of her arm was now also covered in broken glass from the lamp she shattered and old cobwebs.  
_Damnit! What are we missing!?_ At this point, they were getting their ass kicked by a snot monster and they weren’t any closer to stopping these ghost bugs from killing anyone.  
_We need to stop her and free everyone, somehow!_

Pieces of stone and brick were caught in her strings and the cobwebs they were covered in, suspended freely over the still air.

Free…Stone…

“Any last words?” Spectra asked, as one of Jolyne’s weakened strings snapped and she fell in a bruised heap on the floor next to Danny. She was looming over the two of them, and Jolyne tensed. Before something, odd happened.

She couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose at a weird stench that was blowing through from the air conditioning. Marsh mud and Twinkies? What the hell kind of combination was that?

“Uh, yeah do you smell gym shorts and gingersnaps?” The ghost boy asked, sounding genuinely confused himself.

“Actually, I smell tennis shoes and fudge-nutters,” Spectra responded, blanching.  
“Urgh! What is that ghastly odour!?”

Jolyne just dropped her jaw at what happened next, insects. All the ones that had infected the students around the area were fleeing from the smell like it was a repellent. Almost instantly were the ill and ghostly teens returning to normal! Spectra looked like she had just been slapped in the face. More than she already had been.

“What?! How is this possible?!”

In the ghost’s confusion. Jolyne got back up and grinned, making a silent gesture of “may I do the honours?”. Danny was quite happy to give this round to her and went to chase down and Thermos the fleeing bugs.

“Hey, Snot-for-Brains.” Spectra whirled around, to see Jolyne just standing there on her own and with her ability manifested. Cracking its knuckles eagerly.  
“I think I finally found it. A name, for this power.” The girl started to walk forward, tall, and proud despite how many places she was bleeding from. The latest reversal had tilted Spectra way off-axis because now she was just backing away with an attempt at a growl of defiance.  
“Ya hear me? Stone Free. That’s its name.”

Oh, how the tables turn because now it was Jolyne who had all the power and Spectra looked caught between livid and terrified. Her newly named ability surged forward, with all its strength into a blindly fast attack rush, screaming its battle cry the whole time.  
_“ORAORAORAORAORAORAORA-ORA!”_

Spectra was under such force that she went splat all over the room, piles of goop splashing the walls and ceiling while Jolyne shook it off her hands and Stone Free. The ghost boy returned not a moment later, looking almost impressed.

“Wow, not bad.”

“Not bad yourself.” She responded, watching him float around and sucking up the remnants of Spectra’s goop. Just then Tucker had come running back from where he had disappeared off to.

“Way to come in with the clutch Tuck!” The ghost boy grinned, giving him a high five, although Jolyne was more focused on the ceiling where she could see someone losing their grip on a tile.

“Yeah! How about that? First trip to a hospital and I’m the only one who didn’t get hurt!”

“Watch out!” Jolyne saw the black-haired girl slip and start falling, she pushed the human boy to the side a little and Stone Free jumped out to catch the girl.

Sam yelped but blinked with surprise when she was safely caught and gently let down by what looked like thin air but felt like a person.  
“You OK?” The other girl had asked. The goth was too dumbfounded to do anything else but nod.  
“Uh…yeah, just going to go and, get my boot.”

“…ah wait shit hang on-!” She looked like she just remembered something and turned around to go look for some stairs.  
“I’ll be back in a minute just get everyone off this property!”

“Who’s she?” Sam asked, watching her disappear around a corner.

“No idea, but she was with Danny when I found him.” Tucker supplied.

“You know…I never got to ask,” Danny responded, shifting back into Danny Fenton and landing lightly on the floor.  
“But Spectra was targeting her too. She didn’t feel like a halfa but…” Was she still like him?  
  


* * *

  
Jolyne had ascended three flights of stairs in record time, looking around for Valerie to make sure she was OK.  
“Valerie! Hey Valerie! Are you up here!? Managed to figure out how to cure everyone!” She shouted while she searched.

“That’s great and all but, could use your help here!” She was surprised to hear Valerie shout back, but at least her voice didn’t echo anymore. Which was probably a good sign. Jolyne picked up the pace until she found the room the two of them had been locked in together.

And found Valerie still on the old bed, grabbing at her leg and trying in vain to pull it out of where it had been phased into the bed. Jolyne bit her tongue to force herself not to laugh. Though she did move over.  
“Need a hand?” She asked, snickering at the heat rising in Valerie’s face.

“Tell anyone about this and you’re dead!”

“My lips are sealed I swear! Now hold still.” Jolyne responded, summoning Stone Free and carefully ripping up the bed and springs around Valerie’s trapped ankle. The springs inside the bed had been digging and even managed to break the skin in a few places.  
“You uh…might need a tetanus shot. Later.” She winced, carefully taking an arm around her shoulders, and helping Valerie keep her weight off one leg.

“That’s rich, considering you look like you’ve been run over.”

“And someone had the good graces to then back up over me?” Jolyne joked in response, now beginning the journey back down so they could get out the entrance and finally leave the creepy as fuck hospital.

“What the Hell Happened?”

“Honestly? I still don’t understand it all.”

The two of them walked in silence for a little bit after that. A worry had started to grow in Jolyne’s stomach, knowing that Valerie knew her real name. All the craziness of the last day had almost allowed her to forget why she was even here at all.

Hence why she stopped before they descended the final flight of stairs to the first floor. Valerie made a confused grunt and gave Jolyne look.  
“Val…you can’t tell anyone my real name. At least not for now.” She watched the eyebrow go up.

“What?”

“Please, just call me Irene. Just Irene. I need to make sure.”

“What the heck are you talking about!?”

 _“Please Valerie.”_ To her credit, she was almost surprised to hear the genuine fear and pleading in her voice. Before she growled and shook her head.

“Alright, fine! But as soon as possible you better tell me _everything_ about you, got it!?”

Jolyne sighed but nodded. Considering this was a big ask of someone who was practically a stranger? She probably owed Valerie a lot for keeping her identity a secret.  
“Alright, I promise.”  
  


* * *

  
The previously infected students had spilled out into the grounds around the hospital. Several had called their parents, and by the time Jolyne and Valerie had come out the entrance several cars were already parked, and parents were happily reunited with their cured kid. Jolyne managed to spot the kid she had been held prisoner with when Spectra had electrocuted her.

She forcefully suppressed a shudder at the memory, and hoped that wasn’t about to be a common occurrence.

“Val!” A man’s voice shouted, and someone Jolyne could only assume was her dad ran up and hugged her. Valerie hugged back almost immediately.

“Daddy!”

“Val, are you alright? You’re limping I was so worried.”

“Daddy, I’m fine.”

“Who’s this?” Finally, the man had taken notice of her, just standing off to the side. Jolyne looked like a deer in the headlights and just blinked, before managing to get her brain in working order.

“O-Oh me. I’m Irene, uh, sir.” She introduced herself, with her fake name. Again.  
“K-Kind of got roped into this, went up the building further and uh…f-found your daughter.” She admitted, blushing.  
“Helped her down the stairs.”

“Irene’s a friend,” Valerie assured afterwards. The man frowned at her, but somehow, she detected more worry than anything else.

“Right, right yes. Just call me Damon. You look hurt so stay here. I have a first aid kit in my trunk.”

And that was in short, how someone else’s dad whom she barely knew fussed over her for well over half an hour. Bandaging up all the injuries she had sustained in the fight against Spectra. She had yet to answer the question on if she was more durable than the average human thanks to Stone Free. Valerie wound up giving her an address to the apartment that she and her dad stayed in, while also fully threatening to track Jolyne down herself if she didn’t get the story and went back home with her father.

Jolyne grunted to herself.  
“Yare yare dawa.” She only sat down, thoroughly bandaged and cleaned up and watching the teens reuniting with her parents.

…she missed her mom. Hell, even her Dad would be enough in this kind of situation. The fact she was nowhere near Florida and all alone was settling like a heavy stone in her core.

“Hey.” She heard a familiar voice spoke up, and the three other kids she recognised from earlier had found where she was resting. Great. More people she had to talk to.

“Yare yare dawa.” She sighed again. A catchphrase she was using more and more often as of late.  
“I got a lot of explaining to do. Don’t I?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stand: Stone Free  
> Stand Master: Jolyne Cujoh
> 
> Power: B  
> Speed: B  
> Range: C  
> Durability: C  
> Precision: C  
> Potential: A
> 
> Stand Ability: Though not as developed as an adults Stand, its physical abilities take some inspiration from her father's Star Platinum. Able to deliver a flurry of strong blows in rapid succession. Its main ability is changing parts of Jolyne's body into strings which can serve a variety of purposes. Currently, up to 60% of her can be converted into string at any one time before she runs the risk of injuring herself.
> 
> You guys might disagree with her Stand stats being diminished compared to her canon form. Don't worry, she's bound to improve those stats as she gains fighting experience.
> 
> Yes, I am aware this chapter is absolutely massive as well. Nearly 8k words. I don't think I will be posting chapters of this length often though so don't worry. I just really wanted to get this episode finished and out of the way. Until next time though!


	6. Explanations and Agreements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See guys? I can indeed, go one chapter without literally everything being on fire. There is also, the absolute miracle where I don't think I need to put any warnings on this chapter either. A little on the shorter side, but downtime is pretty necessary. 
> 
> I am very sorry for my upload being so delayed compared to normal. Between applying for an honours program, organising for my graduation and other life things it's been hard to maintain drive to write for this chapter. But I will try to return to a regular uploading schedule soon. Until next time, enjoy the chapter!

The last night had been exhausting for everyone involved, but the small mercies of it happening on a Friday hit hard, because at least Danny didn’t have to force himself to get up early. He still did when flashes of the events last night raced through his brain. Right, he needed to find the girl whom he still didn’t know the name of.

His Ghost Core stirred a little with unease at the thought. She was not a normal human, but she also wasn’t a ghost. Or even a Halfa like him. Yet she still threw herself at Bertrand and Spectra without any ghost hunting equipment…and she still held her own. Just who or what was she?

The acknowledgement that she had helped him and the students of Casper High while knowing almost none of them clashed with just how easily she could also hurt someone in Amity Park. Heck, she could be anywhere in Amity right now. His Core didn’t know whether to place her as a friend or a potential threat. Danny groaned, scratching at the mess of his raven hair. He knew the only way to resolve the unease he felt was to talk to her and find out what her deal was. But he had never gotten an idea of where she lived if that was anywhere in Amity Park.

“She’s gotta be somewhere around here. I can cover every inch of Amity Park in like, 10 minutes!” 

* * *

As it turned out? She was more difficult to find than Danny had first anticipated. He must have flown all over town several times over in his ghost form trying to locate the green-haired mystery woman. They had never gotten her name and he was starting to resent that. It’s like she didn’t even live in Amity Park-!

Danny went back over the train of thought he was having and facepalmed. She had a southern accent; she couldn’t be anywhere near Amity Park normally. So maybe she didn’t have a home, he was searching the residential areas!   
“If she hasn’t got a home though, where could she be?” He knew that Amity Park had homeless shelters, a lot of people tended to suffer property damage while they lived here thanks to the ghost attacks. But he had already poked his head in several of those places and she hadn’t appeared even there.

Unless…was she staying away from those areas on purpose? She did have a few unusual powers in her own right. The memory of what Spectra had said while they were locked in that room together was dredged up to replay.  
 _“Let me guess. Broken living situation?”_

He started to fly over the side streets and alleyways, perfect little nooks for someone looking to hide from the world. His Core had only become more agitated in the ideas that she may have run here from a home who rejected her. The urge to help and protect had come back, but with the lack of anything else to focus on? There was an alley that started to stand out a little to him.

Because as he passed over it, there was a chill that settled in his ectoplasmic lungs. Almost like his ghost sense has triggered. But he knew it couldn’t be an actual ghost. That tended to harbour a more powerful, freezing claw in his chest until misty clouds spewed from his mouth. Here it was only settling at a slight discomfort in his lungs. He was sure that if he had been fighting a ghost, or just more preoccupied in general it would have escaped his notice completely.

But he looked down at the alley that was creating the odd sensation. He found a streak of green that was much brighter than the dumpster it was next to. He flew down, slowly dropping his invisibility as he got closer until he confirmed it was indeed, that same mystery girl from last night. She was curled up, using a backpack as a pillow, and sleeping under some newspapers and unused trash bags for warmth.

His Core twisted painfully; she was homeless. But he didn’t get to dwell on the fact too much as she suddenly jumped awake. The blue arm of her odd superpower jumping out of her body with preparation to strike. Yelping, Danny dropped his invisibility fully and threw up his hands in the “don’t shoot!” maneuver.

“Hey, wait its just me!” He flinched, finding that the fist had stopped just a moment from his face and gently pulled back, as the girl fought to get herself into a sitting position.

“Shit, sorry. I didn’t see you properly.” She apologised, looking away as the entity was pulled back inside her.   
“Guessing you’re looking for those explanations huh?”

“Well, I mean yes but…are you…is this where you?” The Halfa asked, continuously scrambling for the most appropriate way to ask if someone had been chased out of their own home.

“Look it's complicated alright? This was just a marginally safer dumpster to sleep behind than like…most other dumpsters.” She grumbled; he could see the pink creeping into her cheeks. Was she embarrassed?

“Danny.”

“What?”

“My name.” He clarified, rubbing the back of his neck.  
“It’s Danny, Danny Phantom…although most of the town keeps calling me Invis-o-bill.”

There was a beat that passed of absolute silence, almost like the girl was trying to size him up for the truth of his claim, before she fought to suppress a snicker. She failed, badly.

“Oh, fuck that’s _awful.”_ She said, smirking a little through her giggles.  
“Guessing that was not intentional.”

“No,” Danny responded flatly.  
“What about you though? We never got your name.” He could see her stop completely and then frown, almost like she was weighing something up. In his eyes, it only cemented the fact further that she was running from something, how she ended up in Amity Park was still a mystery though.  
“H-Hey if it's too dangerous for you to share-“

“Jolyne.” She clarified after a moment.  
“My name is Jolyne Cujoh and... thanks, for helping me out last night. I didn’t know shit about what was going on there. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know if I could have fought them off on my own.”

The name poked vaguely at Danny’s memory, but he couldn’t properly place where he heard it before. So for now, he elected to ignore the feeling.  
“You were kind of a help yourself, normally I come out of fights with way more-“ He stopped mid-sentence when he heard a stomach growl in loud protest. The girl looked down and blushed furiously. When had she eaten last?

“Actually, let’s get you some food first, I have a feeling you need it. Hang on, I got some friends I can call.”

* * *

“Dude when was the last time you ate?” Being elbowed behind the fallen tree they were using as a makeshift table caused Tucker to yelp and glare in Sam’s direction. Their mystery guest didn’t seem to care much about the question and just kept drilling through her third Nasty Burger.

Looking back on it, Danny couldn’t connect the girl who expressed clear hesitancy about the local fast-food joint and had to be convinced that the restaurant wasn’t self-aware about how bad they were. To the kid who had probably eaten three times the rest of them.

They had found the designated spot that Danny often used to train when it wasn’t convenient to do it in his parents’ lab. Hence why many of the trees had burns from ectoplasmic blasts or had been completely toppled over. Just like the one they were currently sitting around.

Danny, in Phantom form, managed to find her wandering around the streets the next morning, looking even more hungry then lost. Hence why they agreed to talk over a meal of Nasty Burger.

Jolyne, as they had found out she was called a few hours ago. Swallowed her latest bite of burger and ruminated over the question.  
“Depends. Properly or at all?”

The only answer that she got was a trio of vaguely horrified looks from the teens across from her. She didn’t even pause long enough to sense the mood was changing because she continued regardless.

“Because the last thing I ate before this period had to be leftovers, I stole from your highschool yesterday when I was hiding in the roof, still debating on if I should apologise for that.” She hummed, then added.  
“But if we’re talking the last time, I had a proper meal it would be…uh…” She stopped to count off something on her fingers.  
“Six days ago now. Damn, almost a week?”

There was an extended pause between the four kids, and Danny couldn’t tell if Jolyne was oblivious to the awkward silence or knew about it and just wasn’t sure how to break it.

“S-So…” Tucker attempted, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.  
“Jolyne Cujoh huh? Some name.”

“My dad’s Japanese, can’t exactly help the surname.” She responded flatly, electing to return to her half-finished meal.  
“Americanising the spelling was about as far as I wanted to go.” She couldn’t deny her feelings for her dad had just become a lot more complicated. Only now was she getting any time to even begin to process the events of that night. Just…how much had her Dad been hiding from her?

“But _Jo_ lyne Cu _jo_ h.” Tucker continued.  
“You’re telling me no one calls you Jojo?”

“My mom gets to call me Jojo, and no one else.” Jolyne’s tone became venomous, Tucker shrank away from her almost automatically.  
“Or else I leave them with a bloody nose.”

“Jolyne it is then!”

“And where is your mom? Or dad for that matter? Any family at all?” Sam could see the opening and decided to dig in. The girl across from her shifted uncomfortably, suddenly finding the dirt under her nails fascinating as she was drumming her fingers against the wood.

“I don’t know where they are, or if they’re even OK,” Jolyne admitted, sighing.  
“The last I saw of them was the day I had to run.”

Team Phantom all stiffened a little, and the mood became significantly more sombre again.

“You’re really out here all by yourself?” Danny asked, a little more quiet than usual.

“…yeah. I am.” She confirmed.

“Can you tell us what happened?” He watched Jolyne shift a little where she was sitting and hum.

“I don’t know how much you’re going to believe me if I do.”

“We do fight ghosts on an almost daily basis. At this point? We’re ready to believe anything.” Sam assured.

There was a moment where Jolyne looked between the three of them, trying to access how truthful they were being. Before she relented.  
“Alright, but you guys better tell me what’s going on with the three of you.”

“Sounds like a fair trade to me.” Danny agreed, leaning forward a little.

“Well…I guess everything started when my mom asked for a divorce with my dad.”

* * *

“You’re right, that’s pretty unbelievable,” Tucker said almost immediately upon the story concluding. Sam took almost no time to elbow him in the side again.  
“Ow!”

“…yeah, don’t exactly blame you. I wasn’t sure what to believe. Even after I gained Stone Free.”

“Who?” Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Remember when I said that my body can unravel itself into silk?” She demonstrated, turning one of her fingers into a mass of string that floated around freely in midair. Jolyne would admit, it was kind of funny to watch as some of the colour drains out of Tucker and Sam’s faces as she did so. Even Danny looked intrigued by this. Reaching out almost on instinct to snatch one of the white threads out of the air. Rolling the substance between his fingers, Danny discovered that it did indeed feel just like a loose thread of silk.

“Weird, not like any ghost power I’ve seen before.”

“I don’t think it’s a ghost power, but if the strings pack themselves densely together. They’ll turn into this.” She weaved the strings together, watching as the gathering grew and shifted until they morphed into her guardian. The blue and cyan-clad Stone Free.   
“I remember my Dad calling it something but…I can’t remember what it is. But hey, I think Stone Free is a good name for mine.”

She watched the sentinel silently give her a thumbs up and a little smirk. The construct enjoyed the name just as much as she did.

“Heh, think she likes my tastes.”

“Yeah, but I don’t see anything, other than your finger disappearing into thin air,” Tucker admitted, and Sam nodded along with him, agreeing on the point.

“It’s a bit creepy, but I think I’ve seen worse.”

“So, you can’t see her?” Jolyne raised an eyebrow, remembering that Valerie could see her strings.

“I can,” Danny admitted, tilting his head quizzically at his friends.  
“Why can’t you?”

“Maybe your ghost powers let you see something we can’t?” Sam suggested, almost immediately. Considering that was usually their go-to explanation whenever Danny did things that weren’t completely normal for humans.

Danny shivered a little, and little swirls of unusually cold air were stuck to the roof of his mouth.  
“I’m sensing something, but it's like my Core doesn’t know if it’s a ghost or not.”

“OK but, are we ignoring the fact the weird kinda-ghost is named after a Jimmi Hendrix song?” Jolyne went hilariously pink at Tucker pointing out an inspiration for her power, and the blue Spirit immediately reached over and took the red hat off Tucker's head, the kid yelped, looking up and seeing the indents of something holding onto the front of it. It was dropped back onto his head before he could say anything about it and Stone Free was pulled back into Jolyne’s body.

“I know it sounds weird I thought it sounded cool OK don’t judge me!”

“No no, I still think it’s a cool name I just had to point it out!”

Sam and Danny were both trying, hard to keep a straight face. Even if it took a minute for Jolyne to somewhat get over the embarrassment of being caught out.

“So…a constantly invisible ghost that does weird things to you and lives inside of you?”

“I’m sure she’s the reason I’ve been able to walk away from being thrown into multiple walls. Hurt like a bitch, but I’m still walking!” Jolyne allowed a beat to go by, before backing the conversation up a little.

“Wow, how long have you even had these powers of yours? Sounds like a while.” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. A year or two, at least. Her eyebrow went even higher when Jolyne proceeded to make a thoughtful expression and count on her fingers. Several times.

“Five…maybe six days?”

“WHAT?!” All three Team Phantom members shouted at once.

“No fair! It took me a month to get a basic hang of my powers!” Jolyne could only give the scandalised Halfa a useless shrug.

“I don’t know how this works! Just that I need to stay alive…But seriously, mind explaining the “ghost powers” thing a bit? I’m still lost on that.”

Team Phantom all looked between one another, but Danny gave a subtle signal he was OK telling the new girl. She already shared a lot of intimate details about herself, plenty of which showed she was in danger if she went public herself. Their secret was safe with her, and hers was safe with them.

“I’m half-ghost,” Danny admitted, getting the hardest part to swallow out of the way first. Jolyne hummed, looking like she was attempting to put aside her own ideas for the time being.

“Half ghost?”

“The ghosts call me a Halfa. Someone who’s half dead and half alive.”

She was sure that if she had been drinking something, Jolyne would have spat it out.  
“How the fuck can you be half-dead?! Isn’t that like, something you can’t really sit on the fence with?”

“We…don’t like to think about it,” Sam admitted, shifting uncomfortably.

“An accident in his parent’s basement lab. We saw the whole thing.” Tucker added. At least to her credit, Jolyne winced with copious sympathy for their situation.

“Fucking yikes…can I…ask how?”

Danny started to blush a little, rubbing the back of his neck now in response.

“Ah yeah uh, its kind of embarrassing I…tripped over a loose wire in the ghost portal that my parents were building and…it turned out there was an on button on the inside of it? When I fell forward, I pressed it and, well I do not recommend having an entire dimension open on top of you.” 

Yeah, Jolyne would have probably focused more on the near-death experience if it wasn’t for one detail.  
“Wait ghost portal?”

“Yeah, it’s…kind of why the towns been flooded with ghosts. I just put them back where they came from whenever they start terrorising the people here.”

_“You have a portal into the afterlife in your basement?”_

Wait, that probably would sound unbelievable to people who didn’t live in Amity Park.

“Uh…yeah. My parents are ghost hunters, they kinda built it?”

Jolyne hit the old wood of the fallen tree with her head and groaned into it for a long and dramatic moment.

“I can’t believe the portal to purgatory is being guarded by Schrödinger’s teenager.”

Tucker let out an involuntary snort next to him, and Danny shot him a disgruntled look.

“What? You got to admit that was a good one dude.”

“Sorry, sorry this is just…a lot. Fuck and I thought my dad secretly being a superpowered agent was hard to swallow.”

“Speaking of that,” Danny spoke up, deciding to change the subject.  
“What are you going to do? The last you said, people might still be after you because of your dad. Not to mention he’s missing?”

“…I don’t know…I’ve already run to the other end of the country, and even then, I don’t know how much time that will buy me,” Jolyne admitted with a sigh, shaking her head.  
“But I don’t want to just run for the rest of my life either! If I do…doesn’t that just mean they’ve started controlling every part of…however long that I’ll have left to live?”

“…” The other three teens looked between one another, unsure of how to input their thoughts into the matter. Telling her to leave Amity Park and keep living in fear of these people felt unreasonably cruel, but Danny already had enough on his hands thanks to the ghosts. If they attacked her father while he was home, that was probably more than enough of an indication that they were willing to throw innocent people under the bus to get what they want. But he couldn’t pin the blame on Jolyne for the actions of the people chasing her…right?

“Look if you want me gone, I understand,” Jolyne admitted, hugging her arms close to her chest.  
“These ghosts are already making your lives Hell, and I don’t want to add onto that.”

“But that means you’re also going to try and take these people on by yourself. Who all have more experience, resources and power than you?” Sam pointed out, causing Jolyne to tense a little.

“I know I’ll-! I’ll think of something!”

“What’d you say your dad’s name was again? Jotaro Kujo?” Tucker interrupted, his PDA was in his hands and it seemed he was already typing something in.

“Dr Jotaro Kujo.”

“Dr Jotaro Kujo, Florida. Got it.” Tucker responded, adding a few more terms into his search and seeing the results narrow down. It took a few seconds of scrolling but he did find something that seemed to match what he was looking for.  
“This the house invasion you told us about?”

Jolyne blinked and leaned forward, squinting at the small screen that she had been presented with by the tech nerd to get a better look. It appeared to be a news article dated only 4 days ago, with an image of an awfully familiar house and a few pictures of her family, she included.

**_Mysterious Home Incident Leads to Disappearance of Local Father and Daughter_ **

_Residents in a local seaside county are still reeling from a report of violence that occurred in a suburban neighbourhood only a few days ago. A family had been attacked at 8:42 PM on the 8 th of October and has led to the disappearances of two individuals. The only member of the family to still be present on the scene by the time law enforcement arrived, Claudia Kujo had sustained serious injuries but is now in a stable condition. The two other members of the family were since reported missing and have not been located. Dr Jotaro Kujo, age 36 and single child Jolyne Kujo, age 15. Police are requesting information on both individuals, although currently no charges have been brought to light. Jolyne Kujo has only been noted for a single charge of-_

Jolyne decided to stop reading before she could get too reminded of some of her choices. Sure, she had started to regret stealing a car last year, but were they using that to try and implicate _her_ in this?

“…you stole a car?” Tucker had turned the article back towards himself and blinked in surprise when he learned she had a record.

“And I got two months in juvie for it. What’s your problem?” Jolyne spat back, suddenly defensive. Tucker quickly threw up his hands.

“Not judging! It was just…surprising.”

Jolyne huffed and looked away.  
“I was acting out alright? Dad was home that week and…shut up it was a bad idea and I know that.” She had stolen that car trying to get his attention, but he didn’t even show up to bail her out. Now they were using that against her.  
“And now it sounds like I’m the one who hurt my mom!”

“Well, considering what they have to go on…” Sam trailed off as she noticed the glare Jolyne was shooting her across the table.

“No one is saying you did do it,” Danny spoke up, trying to clarify before the distraught teenager would get angry.  
“It’s just even you said you had trouble seeing what was going on at the time.”

Jolyne growled but didn’t argue.  
“Yeah yeah…I know. Damnit.” She went back to leaning on the stump, rubbing her temples and trying to think of what to do next.  
“I don’t want to just keep running all over the country. Who knows what those bastards can do that I can’t? Plus…they’ll have everything on their side.” She couldn’t run forever, she just couldn’t. The only thing she did know was that somehow, she had to find out what happened to her father.

But if she stayed here…she didn’t want to drag other people into the shit she had been thrown into herself. She could be putting so many people in danger.

_Fuck was this how dad felt?_

“Yare yare dawa.” She groaned, only now recognising how much she had been using that phrase lately.   
“I keep saying that. Fuckin’.”

“What does it even mean?” Tucker piped up, understanding it surely wasn’t Esperanto. It was kind of funny to see how red Jolyne turned in response though.

“U-Uh…Dad, taught it to me…sorta. I heard him say “yare yare daze” a lot as a kid and started parroting it? Means “give me a break” or whatever. It's Japanese but I had to use the feminine article. Which is “yare yare dawa”…guess I thought it was cool at the time.” She muttered, almost tripping over her own words.  
“I stopped using it after dad stopped wanting anything to do with me. But…” It was just something she started to say again. Wasn’t even sure why.

There was another long beat of silence before Jolyne decided to finally bite the bullet.  
“Look, I’m gonna cause trouble for you. So if you want me gone I’ll-”

“No!” Danny spoke up before she could finish. His Core jumped almost automatically at the idea of leaving Jolyne to fend for herself, it clashed painfully with his protective Obsession. And at the same time…it kind of felt good, having someone else around who had powers like him, even if they weren’t ghost powers. The only person he had up until now was that Crazed Up Fruitloop Vlad. Valerie as the Red Huntress may provide some help, but the support was complicated by their history…and Valerie still being all too happy to train the anti-ghost weaponry on him, even if there were more dangerous ghosts around. To have someone, anyone who used their powers for abject good like he did was a breath of fresh air he never knew he needed.

Of course, there was no way he was going to voice that here and now. So instead, his brain scrambled to find a more reasonable means to convince Jolyne to stay.   
“I-I mean you said it yourself, right? You’re going to have a really difficult time trying to go it alone. A-And at least here, there’s so much weird in Amity Park no one is going to look twice.”

Jolyne blinked back a look of surprise, she wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but being flat out told they’d help her was probably not one of those outcomes.

“Danny?” Sam blinked owlishly at her friend; she hadn’t ever seen him so willing to bring a new person into the group. Somewhere deep inside, a discomfort itched. She still couldn’t bring herself to fully trust this girl, but she pushed down the feeling in favour of being supportive. For now.

“A-Are you really sure about this?” Jolyne asked, glancing between the three of them.

“Well, if Danny trusts you, so can I.” Tucker threw his own two cents into the mix, before leaning forward with what was…an attempt, at a suave look.  
“And if we’re friends. That means I can show you all the best hangout spots. They don’t call me TF for “ _Too Fine”_ for nothing!”

Jolyne just gave him a flat look, folding her arms.  
“Please never flirt with me again.”

“Worth a shot.”

“It really wasn’t.”

“Thanks, Tucker,” Danny grumbled, trying to steer the conversation back on track.  
“But seriously, what’s your say?”

“…I’m not gonna fucking run, not from those bastards,” Jolyne responded, feeling the resolve inside growing.  
“I’m gonna get my dad back, no matter what. So!” She looked up, nodding multiple times as she solidified the deal in her head.  
“I’ll help you with your home’s ghost problem, and you guys help me track my father down?”

“Deal.” Danny extended a hand, and Jolyne took it, sealing their agreement with a firm shake.

“Welcome to Amity Park.”

“Heh, thanks, Spooky.”


End file.
